Govinda claims some film folk not letting his movies release
Filmmaker Rohan Sippy’s last directorial Nautanki Saala (2013) failed to make a mark at the box office. Since then, he has produced a film, helmed a short film, TV series and his latest web series, Side Hero, but has not directed a full-length feature film. The director shares that he is working on a script right now.
“I liked the story, the script is being developed. Once that’s done, we will get into casting, recce and everything else. But there’s still time,” says the director, known for films such as Bluffmaster (2005) and Dum Maaro Dum (2011).
How did he deal with the poor response to Nautanki Saala? “Such things happen, they are not in your hands. You can’t cling on to your past, you must move on,” he says.
Rohan collaborated with good friend, actor Abhishek Bachchan, in three directorial ventures. Does he plan to reunite with him soon? “I’d love to. Every time I worked with Abhishek, it has been a great experience,” he says.
In the wake of several cuts given to his upcoming film Rangeela Raja, Govinda has alleged a group of people in the industry are conspiring to not let his films release.
He made the claim at a press conference on Saturday after the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) refused to certify the film and ordered 20 cuts. The film is produced by former CBFC chief and filmmaker Pahlaj Nihalani.
“For the last nine years, a group of people in the film industry is conspiring against me and not letting my films release on any good platform,” Govinda said. “Either my films are not getting a release or they are not getting a good number of theatres or screens. The recent example was Fryday which released a few weeks ago and the media gave it a good review. They took the film away from theatres,” he said, without giving names.
Govinda, who made his acting debut with Nihalani’s Ilzaam (1986), worked with him on films like Shola Aur Shabnam (1992) and Aankhen (1993). “Our film industry was never like this and it seems we are living in a different world. If someone would have supported me then I would have not faced problems. Today no one is supporting me. I don’t have financiers or producers backing me. When he (Nihalani) is supporting me, he has been told ‘why are you working with Govinda’,” the 54-year-old actor said.
Lawyer Ashok Saraogi, who was present at the press conference, said the team chose to show the 20 cuts sought by the CBFC to the media to understand their views. Nihalani claims his film Rangeela Raja is a clean family entertainer. The producer moved the Bombay High Court against the CBFC decision but his plea was turned down.