The never-ending logjam over the Kishore Kumar biopic seems to be heading nowhere.
When filmmaker Anurag Basu years back expressed his desire to capture the story of the maverick actor-director-singer (well, he wore too many hats), it caused a massive exhilaration among Kishoreda’s fans, yet there has been no headway till date.
The BIRTHDAY boy turns a year younger today (August 4), but millions of his ardent well-wishers would be sulking in sheer dismay at the abject failure of our esteemed film industry to put a reality stamp on the project.
Recently, Basu, in an interview, informed that Ranbir Kapoor, who was chosen to play the titular character, gave precedence to the upcoming epic Ramayana, perhaps the costliest-ever Indian film, over the biopic.
In fact, Ranbir’s name had been doing the rounds for donkey’s years, yet the official announcement has been elusive.
Then stepped in Mr. Perfectionist Aamir Khan, who started hogging the limelight around the prestigious project.
But Basu preferred to play safe, asking rumourmongers to hold back their zeal till the film officially rolls.
In fact, when Kishoreda’s son, also an eminent singer in his own right, Amit Kumar was quizzed, he had replied, “Nothing is finalised. As per our legal team’s order, we can’t mention any developments.”
Readers would be surprised to know that not just Basu, even filmmaker Nagesh Kukunoor was almost finalised to helm the biopic titled Kishoreda with Shreyas Talpade essaying the iconic artiste, but it failed to fructify.
Piku director Shoojit Sircar had also planned a biopic, but to no avail. There were also reports that filmmaker Sudhir Mishra, whose ease at handling complex subjects is revered, had taken the plunge too, until extraneous circumstances played the spoilsport.
Kishoreda’s life, though an open book, has also been shrouded in mystery, with film historians and experts coming forth with their own interpretations.
The mystery around Kishoreda has always been a subject frequently dissected and it is a given that the audiences, especially the ones who grew up on his immortal numbers, would be eagerly waiting to see his story on the big screen.
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The interest level in filmmakers is appreciable but the end result is turning out to be a damp squib.
Will the project ever see the light of the day? Or maybe Basu or somebody else could spring up a surprise by nipping the suspense in the bud for good on this auspicious day.
Fingers crossed!
