In an exclusive conversation, novelist Hussain Zaidi opens up about his dream of writing Mumbai Avengers and how the makers who had adopted his literary work couldn't do justice to the source material.
Novelist, screenwriter, and former investigative journalist S Hussain Zaidi has reacted to the underperformance of his Mumbai Avengers' cinematic adaptation Phantom and admitted that the film could have been better. Hussain's literary works have been adapted on the big screen multiple times. Hussian's books mainly delve into detailed accounts of real-life incidents, or the life journey of infamous outlaws. However, his book Mumbai Avengers (2015) was a fictitious story of a group of people who avenged the 2008 Mumbai attacks.
The novel Mumbai Avengers was adapted into the film Phantom by director Kabir Khan and producer Sajid Nadiadwala. Phantom starred Saif Ali Khan and Katrina Kaif in the leads. The movie was released with positive responses from the critics, but the movie underperformed at the box office. Recently, Hussain attended the MAMI Film Festival inaugural sessions and addressed filmgoers on Adaptations. After the Word To Screen session, Hussain joined DNA for an exclusive conversation.
In the conversation, when he was asked to open up about a cinematic adaption of his work that has not done full justice to his work, Hussain said that Mumbai Avengers' cinematic adaptation (Phantom) had great potential of becoming a bigger hit. "Mumbai Avengers is my dream project. This was the first book that I wanted to be adapted as a film. Before that, I only wrote books, and later they got adapted into films due to their popularity. I had a dream to show that India can avenge. Mumbai Avengers was passion and fantasy. I wish makers ne usko thoda aur dhyaan se banaya hota, toh woh aur achhi banti, logon ko aur pasand aati. Aur achha kar sakte they woh (I wish makers could have concentrated more during production, it could have been better, and would have worked better at the box office)."
Many popular Bollywood crime dramas are based on Hussain's work. Anurag Kashyap's Black Friday is the cinematic adaption of Hussain's novel of the same name. Sanjay Gupta's Shootout At Wadala is based on Hussain's Dongri To Dubai. Alia Bhatt's Gangubai Kathiawadi is also adapted from Hussain's The Queens of Mumbai. Hussain has even written story and screenplay for the series Bambai Meri Jaan, Lahore Confidential and London Confidential.
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 "Hussain Zaidi on Saif Ali Khan, Katrina Kaif's Phantom")
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