Friday, 26 April 2013

Sobhraj versus Sobhraj: Pooja Bhatt and Anurag Kashyap at loggerheads



The war over the Charles Sobhraj epics has just begun. DAR Motion Pictures has acquired the rights to film Farrukh Dhondy’s book Bikini Murders allegedly based on the life and crimes of Charles Sobhraj. Now there are reports that another film based on Sobhraj is all set to go on the floors this July.

The film titled Bad (earlier Jailbreak) will be produced by Pooja Bhatt and directed by Prawal Raman, who also directed 404. But as per Prawal, Bad is not about Sobhraj.

“I am not interested in Mr Sobhraj. A man who spent 40 years of his life in jail doesn’t interest me. It is his daredevil prison escape from Tihar jail in Delhi in 1986 that gripped me. My film is based on Sobhraj’s jail break. The real heroes of the film are the two senior cops Amodh Kanth and Madhukar Zhende who nabbed Mr Sobhraj after his prison escape.”

Pooja Bhatt’s blue-eyed boy Randeep Hooda will play Sobhraj. Hooda, known to go into intense preparation for his parts, has already begun researching for the film which will focus not on Sobhraj’s exploits but his dare devilish jailbreak from Tihar.

The senior cops Amodh Kanth and Madhukar Zhende, who arrested Sobhraj after the jailbreak, will be pivotal character in Prawal Raman’s film.

“In fact my film is based on the accounts of Amod Kanth,” reveals Raman. Attempts to film Sobhraj’s life have so far been stonewalled by legal hurdles placed by the global charlatan himself.

Another proposed Sobhraj bio-pic will be produced by Dar Motion Pictures. The film will be based on Farrukh Dhondy’s book Bikini Murders and will be directed by Anurag Kashyap.

When I contacted author-columnist Farrukh Dhondy in London he confirmed, “The rights to the book were negotiated with a group called DAR with Anurag Kashyap.”

May the best bio-pic win.

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