Minnisha Lamba’s Silly Lie

Minnisha Lamba’s Silly Lie • Agent Problematic • Money in Hand, Missing in Action

It’s been two months since the Cannes Film Festival, but stories from the Croisette haven’t stopped coming. Minnisha Lamba might have earned praise for her choice of gowns on the red carpet, but the petite starlet didn’t make much of an impression among cinephiles at Cannes. While being interviewed on camera on the second day of the festival, Minnisha spoke enthusiastically about the opportunity to be at Cannes, and revealed that she’d already begun taking in some of the best films that were being screened.

Asked what she’d seen that had impressed her the most, the actress didn’t so much as blink before naming Pedro Almodovar’s latest, The Skin I Live In, which was slated to premiere later that week. Asked how and where she’d already caught a screening, Minnisha panicked and asked for the camera to stop rolling. “Cut, cut!” she ordered. “I haven’t seen the film yet,” she admitted to the horrified journalist who called her on her lie. “But I thought it’s a good film to name.” 

If the industry grapevine is to be believed, Saif Ali Khan and his Agent Vinod director Sriram Raghavan are having ‘serious creative differences’ over their ambitious spy thriller. The actor, who is also producing the film, is allegedly at loggerheads with the filmmaker over his vision for the movie.

Saif, it seems, was hoping for a mass-entertainer feel to the film (“Along the lines of Race,” he’s believed to have instructed Raghavan), whereas the director is supposedly going for a grittier, Bourne Ultimatum approach. Many crores have already been poured into the film by Eros Entertainment, which has slotted the movie for a November release. But Saif, who is reportedly still sulking with Raghavan, has shifted focus to his other acting jobs—Arakshan with Prakash Jha, and Cocktail with Homi Adjania (which he’s also producing).

Assistants working on the film reveal that they’re being forced to take sides between the director and the producer, and the mood at Illuminati Films is said to be far from upbeat. Having worked previously with Raghavan on Ek Hasina Thi, and confident that he’ll deliver a solid product, Saif is rumoured to have finally given in to the director’s vision of the film despite his own keenness for a masala thriller. But they’re still not on talking terms, we hear.

It appears that this 50-something male star has become a thorn in the side of his producers. The actor allegedly greenlighted an action movie whose script he was offered by a first-time director, accepted a Rs 1 crore signing amount for the film, then went incommunicado for the next two years or so. The desperate filmmakers simply couldn’t get in touch with the star to procure his dates so they could start the film. When an actor-producer who was acquainted with the unprofessional star intervened on behalf of the harrowed filmmakers, the star revealed that he was no longer convinced about the script and had no interest in doing the movie anymore. Asked to return the signing amount in that case, the star refused. He’d already used it, he said, and added that it wasn’t his fault the script wasn’t good enough to go.

Left with no other option, the filmmakers spent the better part of the third year working on a new script. This was to be an ensemble piece, as the star had categorically said he no longer wanted to do an action movie that he’d be required to carry on his shoulders. He also offered only 15 shooting dates for the film, and demanded an additional Rs 7 crore as his fee. All terms were agreed upon. The new script that was delivered was a suspense thriller on the lines of Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None, and production finally began in Goa where the star had promised to show up on an agreed date.

On the said date, the filmmakers reportedly received a call from the star’s smarmy manager, who announced that his boss wouldn’t be flying in as he was tied up with legal issues. He couldn’t confirm when the star would ultimately show up, and hinted that he might be able to help if his palms could be greased. After pocketing a cool Rs 35 lakh, the manager ensured that the star arrived in Goa for the shoot, albeit a week after the initially agreed date.

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Rajeev Masand

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