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FORGING NEW TIES
As Ajay Devgn and Neeraj Pandey team up for Chanakya, we take a look at a few other fresh, interesting directoractor partnerships
New partnerships are always exciting and the same holds true for the film industry as well. How else would you explain that the trade world is — as Taran Adarsh puts it — “very excited” about Ajay Devgn’s next, Chanakya (political thinker and economist) with Baby (2015) director Neeraj Pandey? And it’s not just AjayNeeraj. A number of other fresh director-actor pairs are also set to serve exciting cinematic fare.
FRESH APPROACH
Shah Rukh Khan will be seen as a dwarf in Aanand L Rai’s biggie, Zero and is reportedly also set to play astronaut Rakesh Sharma in Mahesh Mathai’s Salute.
Akshay Kumar will reportedly team up with Chandraprkash Dwivedi for a film on warrior king Prithviraj Chauhan. Ranveer Singh plays a cop in Rohit Shetty’s next, Simm a; and a street rapper in Zoya Akhtar’s Gully Boy. The same film will also see Alia Bhatt as his co-star. Alia will also be seen in Ayan Mukerji’s ambitious superhero film, Brahmastra alongside Ranbir Kapoor, who will be seen as a dacoit in Karan Malhotra’s Shamshera.
“Such partnerships always yield great results because it’s an amalgamation of two distinct minds and different sensibilities. In such cases, directors can bring an actor out of their comfort zone and showcase a completely new side of their histrionic skills,” says trade expert Adarsh.
Adarsh seems to have a point, as Varun Dhawan enjoys his first tryst with a period film, in Abhishek Varman’s Kalank. While Arjun Kapoor will be seen in Ashutosh Gowariker’s historical drama, Panipat, Shahid Kapoor will turn into a boxer for Raja Krishna Menon’s next. “It brings in an absolutely fresh flavour and new cinematic language. Also, such directoractor pairings are essential for our film industry as it can help push the envelope when it comes to a novel style of storytelling,” says exhibitor distributor Akshaye Rathi.
EXCITING PROCESS
Actors, on their part, are “very excited” about teaming up with directors they haven’t worked with before. Ranveer tells us: “I used to dream that one day, I’d do a film with Rohit Shetty, and now I’m doing it. It feels great that all this is happening in the same year as Padmaavat.” Talking of Gully Boy, Alia says: “In Zoya’s film, I play a very different character — one that I have never played before so I am really kicked about that.”
Rai, on the other hand, feels SRK is the “best newcomer” a director can ever work with. “I don’t know how he manages to keep thin simpl Only a young newcomer will give you this feeling, and say, ‘yeh bhi kar loon, ‘yeh bhi kar leta hoon’, or ‘aise kar ke dikhaun kya’ What I am learning from him through this entire process is that every time you come [on the sets]; you behave as if it’s your first film,” says Rai, even as Shetty tells us: “I am very excited with the way Simmba is turning out to be with Ranveer.”