Last year, it was announced that Nagraj Manjule (of Sairat fame) would make his Hindi directorial debut with a film starring Amitabh Bachchan. The biopic was supposed to be based on football coach Vijay Barse, who founded an NGO, Slum Soccers, which helps slum kids learn the sport. However, earlier this year, there were reports about the project being put on the back burner. But now it looks like the film will go on floors soon.
The original plan
Reportedly, two people were planning to make the movie on the same subject. Our source states, “On the one hand, there was Meenu Kumarr, who claimed she had bought the rights to Vijay’s story. She approached a few production houses to come on board, but no one showed interest. On the other hand, there was another lady, Savita, who also started pitching the same idea to other production houses. As a result, there was a conflict between the two regarding the rights.”
But that’s not the only reason behind the delay. Our khabri adds, “They had the rights for a span of two years and had to make the film within that time. Otherwise, it would stand null and void.” The producers were in two minds about the viability of its budget. A source says, “The makers were pitching it at a landing cost of Rs 42 crore, without print and advertising (P&A).”
What’s happening now
Apparently, the team then decided to push the film. Sets that were being erected were taken down almost immediately. Since then, there has been no official announcement of a new date for Jhund to take off. “Now, Sandeep Singh is on board as a financier. He was accumulating funds to get the project rolling. It was during this time that he approached Bhushan Kumar,” reveals the source.
“Bhushan, who has a good business acumen, managed to bring down the production cost to Rs 22 crore. He will now make the biopic under his own banner,” informs the source. The other modalities are being worked out and if everything falls into place, they will roll the film
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 "Amitabh Bachchan and Nagraj Manjule")
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