Saif passes the buck

Saif passes the buck • Salman’s return to innocence • When the going gets tough

Saif Ali Khan isn’t mincing any words when it comes to Humshakals, Sajid Khan’s tasteless comedy that has evidently cost him some faithful fans. The actor admitted in an interview recently that doing the movie was a mistake, the kind he will not repeat again. He has also made it very clear that he will no longer be making a second movie with Sajid, although he had verbally agreed to work with the director again. “My consent depended on how this film performed. Now obviously I’m not going to do another movie with Sajid.” In what must have come as a crushing blow to the filmmaker, Saif also added: “Looking back, I can see today that I didn’t enjoy a single minute spent on the Humshakals set.”

While the film’s critics (and there are many) evidently feel vindicated in the wake of Saif’s comments, many industry insiders have criticised the star for disowning the film after its failure. Saif’s Hamesha director Sanjay Gupta took to Twitter to make his point, without naming names, however: ‘A film is your baby even if it fails to perform at the box office. It is so not cool for actors to thrash it after release.’

Even his Humshakals co-star Riteish Deshmukh is reportedly disappointed with Saif’s comments on the film, and has privately condemned the actor’s reactions among friends. Ajay Devgn, who starred in Sajid’s last dud Himmatwala, made it a point to say he accepted that film’s failure, but took full responsibility for it.

Salman’s Return to Innocence

Salman Khan has already begun filming Sooraj Barjatya’s Prem Ratan Dhan Payo (yes, that really is the film’s title, I kid you not!), and he says the film’s proving to be way more challenging than he’d expected. He still has a great rapport with his Maine Pyar Kiya director, but admits he’s a far cry from the character Sooraj has cast him as.

“In the years since we last worked together [in 1999’s Hum Saath Saath Hain], Sooraj has continued to make family films, whereas I’ve gone on to make films like Wanted and Dabangg, which are of an entirely different genre, so it’s hard fitting into that mould again,” Salman told me. “Actors tend to lose the innocence they had in their early films. But Sooraj wants exactly that,” he explained.

Apparently the filmmaker has asked Salman to give him over 120 shooting dates to complete the film—an unusual request, considering most producers tend to wrap Salman Khan-starrers in 80 days or less, given the actor’s chock-a- block schedule and his multiple film commitments. The star’s managers are reportedly not pleased, and more so since he’s already taking a sizeable pay-cut for his mentor’s film.

When the Going Gets Tough…

A currently down-on-his-luck actor has realised that there’s truth in the old saying that you come to know who your real friends are when you run into rough weather. After having suffered three flops back-to-back, the young star seems to have been left out in the cold by the same industry that not so long ago welcomed him with open arms, even throwing crores at him after he’d delivered just his first hit. But what appears to have hurt the actor immeasurably is the volte-face of a leading producer—and a close family friend at that —who reportedly dropped him like a hot potato from at least one project, and was instrumental in having him replaced in another outside film.

The actor isn’t hiding his disappointment. He has apparently been critical of the producer’s recent business expansions, insisting that what’s missing in his movies now is the personal involvement he once used to invest in every project. In one film that he was particularly looking forward to, and in which he’d already invested time and effort, the star was replaced by a new actor whom this producer recently launched.

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Rajeev Masand

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