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Sippy Jr. takes guard
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Next, Rohan Sippy plans to get Amitabh and Abhishek together for a music album
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CALLING THE SHOTS Rohan believes in doing his own thing
The Chopras and the Barjatyas might well take note. The Sippys are fast regaining their position in the power list of the Hindi film industry. And, they are rewriting the diktats of the film industry, in more ways than one. If Ram Gopal Varma is busy trying to re-invent the magic of Ramesh Sippy's masterpiece Sholay, the Sippys themselves are raising the bar for slick filmmaking among the generation now. The Sippy scion, Rohan, couldn't muster box office success with his first film Kuch Naa Kaho. But his next, Bluffmaster, was a different story altogether. His new production, Taxi no.9211, holds promise as well. Finally, has the New York educated heir found his feet in Bollywood? "I guess so. As a filmmaker and a producer, I'm careful not to be bound by the set norms of the industry. That gives me the room to try something new," he says, talking to us while in the city on a short visit.
Working on Taxi no.9211 wasn't as strenuous as Bluffmaster, he confides. "Being a director is strenuous and exhausting given the deadlines we have to keep. But as a co-producer, the load is not entirely on your shoulders. I spent time with Milan (Luthria) in the initial stages where we were fine-tuning the script. From then on, Taxi was Milan's baby. I was busy winding up Bluffmaster."
The highlight of Taxi, says Rohan, was shooting the entire film in Mumbai. "The story pitches two opposite characters who represent the varied layers of the Mumbai society. It's a city of contrasts and we had to mirror that. Shooting in a set at the Film City would have defeated the purpose. For example, the John-Nana car chase that ends on the railway track would have been impossible to create in an artificial environment." Having directed Nana Patekar in Bluffmaster, Rohan can't but rave about his bravura performance in Taxi no.9211. "Nana has just set the bar for the best actor award. Any other actor would have to really work double hard to compete with him."
Coming up next is an adaptation of Chetan Bhagat's best selling tome, One Night @ A Call Center. "Chetan has prepared a draft, let's see. The substance has to excite people, only then we can go ahead with the film. We are still working on it," is all that Rohan reveals. He clams up further when we quiz him on his plans to bring Amitabh Bachchan and Abhishek together for a music album. "Abhishek is amazingly talented, which he proved through Right Here, Right Now. So I felt he should hone his singing talent. But the songs aren't ready yet. So I really can't say anything."
SANGEETHA DEVI. K
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