Are you game for Abhishek’s Game?

A lot of action at AB Corp –– Paa,Vihir and now Bbuddha Hoga Tera Baap… What’s in store?
I am very excited about Bbuddha… Puri is a friend and his story was amazing. The film brings back the whole angry young man feel and the audience would love to watch Amitabh Bachchan in that avatar again. We are also going to do another film with him.

Is there a film with Balki on the cards?
Balki is family. We will certainly be making a film with him. What he did for AB Corp with Paa was amazing. The minute he told me that he had a story wherein I played my father’s father,I was certain it would work. But I was equally certain that to recover money on it the production cost could not exceed 15 crore.

Why is it that neither of the Bachchan women have featured yet in an AB Corp film?
It is not a function of just being a part of the family but a function of the scripts and stories. If an interesting script that requires their presence turns up,they will be pencilled in .

Vihir did extremely well too…
Producing regional cinema under AB Corp banner was Ma’s idea and fortunately,our productions have done well. There are some more in the pipeline. What is amazing about them is that they (regional film directors) don’t want to crowd their films with stars or big budgets. They are content telling their stories.

Is television software next on the cards?
We have not yet stepped into television production but at some point we will. The last time around,we tried to everything together and burnt our fingers. The idea is to take baby steps. Do one thing at a time.

There have been murmurs of discontent about exorbitant star prices inflating film budgets. As a star and a producer,do you think the criticism is justified?
I have no complaints as far as star prices are concerned. If there are companies that are willing to put out huge sums of money to rope in a star,then why blame the stars? As a producer,I am very clear about getting a star that suits the budget of the film. If someone’s price cannot be absorbed within that budget then perhaps we will work in another project,later. And I think every producer has that choice of signing a star that suits his budget.

How did it feel being at Oscar Awards this year. Were there any obvious trends in the kind of movies that landed the top honours?
It was great being at the Oscar Awards. The ceremony was well organised and everyone was extremely courteous. In many ways,they are—like us –– there are the blockbusters and films that win awards. It is interesting that Hindi film song and dance routine has found its way to the Academy Awards which is why we must never do away with our style of film-making—it is our identity. People love the colour,emotions and the high drama in our films so why abandon that for the western style of film-making?

Superhero films seem to be new trend in Hindi cinema – what’s your take on the idea of the Indian superhero?
It would be great to see all the India superheroes

Krrish and Ra.1,flying around. I wish them the very best.

Drona,a brave attempt at the fantasy genre went wrong -is it that Hindi movies are hamstrung by the budgets when it comes to fantasy/action genre?
In retrospect,we understand why Drona failed but I am glad that we tried. It was very brave of Goldie Behl to attempt this in his second film and in a way,make it easier for the rest (who want to make a fantasy films). Not having a budget like Harry Potter (because our movies can’t recover that sort of revenue) can be an impediment but it can perhaps be overcome with a good screenplay but this is a learning in hindsight.

Shah Rukh in fact told us that regardless of our movie’s failure or success,Drona would pave way for other who want to follow in that direction.

Another popular trend is working on the physicality of the character -how important are six pack abs and other such to creating timeless characters?
At the end of the day,cinema is an audio-visual medium so you have to do whatever it takes-getting yourself a six-pack or putting on the kilos as I did in Guru.

Are micro-blogging sites like Twitter a bane for the movies? Several people feel that poor word-of-mouse can kill the business?
I think social networking sites/micro-blogging sites are a great way to get feedback from your audience. They are also great levellers. I know that there is a school of thought that stars lose their mystique by using such platforms but today,fans don’t want to look up to their idols. They want to connect with them as equals which is quite evident on such sites. They are both flattering and critical and sometimes it’s a great reality check. It brings you back to earth. There are a few people out there with a tendency to be abusive but you have to take the good with the bad.

As far as critical propaganda on Twitter killing the business of a film is concerned,I think it’s not true because Twitter is used by all of us to promote films as well and if it can’t make a film a hit it can’t make a flop either.

How does it feel to have successfully survived a decade in the film industry?
It feels as though the years have just flown past…it feels like just yesterday.

priyanka.sinha@expressindia.com