Filmmaker Vidhu Vinod Chopra to document classics

Filmmaker Vidhu Vinod Chopra is all set to start one more division under his banner which will work towards making a bank of classic films in the form of detailed books.

The new division, which is yet to be named, will make these books available in the market.

The first film to be catalogued was Chopra's recent blockbuster '3 Idiots' which was launched last night in the presence of its team including Chopra, Rajkumar Hirani, Kareena Kapoor, Sharman Joshi, R Madhvan, Shantanu Moitra, Swanand Kirkire and Omi Vaidya.

"I am not looking at this division as a profit making venture but as an archive. Only the filmmakers and those who are closely associated with the film are privy to all the details of their films," Chopra said.

"My intention is to document all the facts and make it available to students and also to cinema lovers. This division will be headed by Anupama Chopra," he said.

"The endeavour of this division is to catalogue the minutest details of a script. The book will include the screenplay, deleted scenes, character sketches, reworked scenes, casting process and everything that went into making the particular film," the filmmaker added.

After '3 Idiots', the division will start work on the 'Munnabhai' series, Chopra said adding that he wanted to create books for classics such as 'Mother India' and also the Guru Dutt films.

The requisite permissions are being worked out and by the end of this year the first of these books will be available, Chopra said.

A special team has been hired to ensure that all the necessary things are included in the books, he said.

"The team will also source out rare pictures from the filmmakers or those associated with the films. This new division will try and include candid and on-the-sets photographs as well," he added.

The '3 Idiots' book, which has been compiled by Smriti Kiran, has a detailed introduction of Rajkumar Hirani - his journey from a typist to a director with some exclusive and never seen before photographs from Hirani's personal album and from the film, the filmmaker said.

Legendary filmmaker Guru Dutt's son Arun, who too was present at the function, said he was overwhelmed to know that Chopra will be making three of his father's classics like 'Chaudavi Ka Chand', 'Saheb Biwi aur Gulam' and 'Kagaz ke Phool' into full fledged screenplay books.