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| Moses Singh, Koel Purie & Vinta Nanda: Three?s company |
She wasn?t here but Rahul Bose did sign all his autographs on the bare arms of Koel Purie. That was the only white space on the black posters of White Noise. In town to promote the film, that releases on Friday at INOX (Forum and City Centre), producer Moses Singh and director Vinta Nanda revealed that they will shoot their next co-production Soulmate At Any Rate, also starring Koel, in Calcutta later this year.
White Noise is in its fourth week in Mumbai and has been declared a ?hit? by the trade magazines. ?We have been trying to bring the film to you right from week one but we had to start out with only four cities,? says Moses. ?And we are finally here. We also release the film in Jaipur and Goa this Friday and then in Chandigarh, Vadodara, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad and Chennai next week.?
Vinta, the lady behind satellite television?s first hit soap Tara, is jubilant with the success of the film. ?It was always a multiplex film and our ploy of releasing it mostly at multiplexes has worked really well.?
White Noise, which is set in the television industry, is about the internal and external conflicts between a soap director and an editor and how the two, played by Koel and Rahul, come together in the small-screen mayhem. ?It is not entirely autobiographical, but being set in the industry that I have worked for so long, I have tried to bring out the demons of the television industry and the hypocrisies that exist,? says Vinta.
Koel couldn?t make it for the Calcutta promotion of the film because she is shooting in Pune for a Bollywood potboiler, Dil Leke Dekho.
?India loses and you call Ganguly a shitty captain. I do three films with a similar character and you label me a certain type of actor,? announces an angry Rahul. ?It?s true that with White Noise, I complete my trilogy of playing a passive male character alongside an active female protagonist. But I couldn?t give a damn because I really wanted to be a part of this film. White Noise is about that woman who is talented, progressive and a feminist yet an alcoholic, self-abusive, and ready to talk openly about her relationships. To allow such woman characters to come on screen I am ready to play second or third or any fiddle.?
On being asked about some of the bad press that the film has got, Rahul was his usual bindaas self. ?Trade pundits are calling it a hit. Frankly, I don?t care. I have never cared about the box-office fate of any of my films. But I would want films like White Noise to do well so that other film-makers can try something ambitious like this. I agree with the report released by CII of the medium-budget films not working. Everybody Says I?m Fine could have been made for Rs 2 crore and also for Rs 4 crore and the difference wouldn?t have been discernible.?
After the Mumbai Matinees and Chamelis, it has been all Calcutta for Mr Iyer. Having completed shooting for Buddhadeb Dasgupta?s Kalpurush, Rahul is all excited about Aparna Sen?s 15, Park Avenue. ?It will be a very, very good film. In fact, I like the drama more than that of Iyer.?
But what Rahul doesn?t know is which film he?s going to sign next. ?I have finished shooting for Khalid Mohamed?s Silsilay. And I have decided to play rugby for two months. But I have to take a call from the six films I have been offered. The ones I am really looking at include a courtroom drama co-starring Pankaj Kapoor, a film set in the call-centre phenomenon and a script written by Anjan Dutt.?
The only thing stopping Rahul from signing Dutt?s next film is the casting of the female lead. ?If I like the actress I will say yes. I like Anjan. I like my character. And I have also told him about the actresses I would like. Ideally I would like it to be Hillary Swank. Everyone says that she isn?t beautiful but I find her ethereally beautiful.?
While Rahul will only stay back in the city if he says yes to Dutt, Vinta and Moses are all set to return to Calcutta, first in July to do the recce and then in September to shoot their next film Soulmate At Any Rate. ?Most of the film will be shot in Europe, Rome to be precise, but we need to shoot for 15 days in an Indian metro. I have done Mumbai to death and I am really impressed with whatever we have seen of Calcutta on this trip. The city?s buildings and streets will really look good on screen as they have a character of their own,? Vinta tells Metro.
The film, Hindi this time, is a two-character romantic comedy and will have Koel as the female lead but the hero is yet to be cast. ?We are talking to a couple of big names in the industry and we will finalise the male lead very soon,? says Moses.
?After Soulmate At Any Rate, I will direct my first film next year called Democracy, which I am writing right now,? he adds.