Reema Kagti hasn’t directed a film since her Aamir Khan-starrer Talaash. Saif Ali Khan opted out of her next film Mr Chaloo. For the director who worked with Aamir in her last project, the painful hunt for a hero was humiliating and discouraging. But Reema isn’t complaining. “Casting changes are an inevitable part of the filmmaking process. One can’t be bogged down by such problems,” she says.
Zoya as support
Now Reema is all set to direct Akshay Kumar in Gold, a film recreating India’s historic win for hockey at the 1948 Olympics. “I was sitting doing nothing when Mr Chaloo got delayed. In fact, we have found a leading man for the project and I will be making the film after Gold. I am also writing Zoya Akhtar’s next film which she directs soon,” informs Reema. She and Zoya go back a long way, “Apart from Luck By Chance, which she wrote on her own, I’ve been a part of all her films so far, as she has been a part of mine. She has been a huge creative support in putting together Gold.”
Fictional take
Right now, Reema’s entire focus is on Gold. “I’ve always been interested in great sports films. And I wanted to direct one. It wasn’t until my friend, lyricist-writer Ankur Tewari shared the idea of a film on a historic hockey match that India played at the 1948 Olympics and brought home India’s first gold medal, that I finally got down to doing my own film.”
Reema is prompt to stress that the film, scripted by Rajesh Devraj, is not a historical account of the actual game. “Mine would be a fictional take on what actually happened. The game of hockey would feature prominently in the plot, but there will also be a strong human drama playing at the forefront. And it wouldn’t be just the Olympics victory in 1948 we will be looking at. Gold will look at 12 crucial years in India’s history.”
The director is aware of the inevitable comparisons with Shimit Amin’s Chak De! India. “Just because hockey is the sport at the backdrop of my film it will be compared with Chak De. But why can’t two films on the same sport co-exist? Ashutosh Gowariker’s Lagaan and Neeraj Pandey’s Dhoni: The Untold Story are based on cricket. But they are very different films. There is room for two films based on a game of hockey as well.”
Reema says Akshay was the first and only choice to play the lead in the film. “It is a dream casting. I couldn’t have hoped for a better lead actor. In fact, my earlier two films worked because of the brilliant actors I got.”
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 "Reema Kagti & Akshay Kumar")
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