Mumbai:
After changing Vidya Balan'spicture perfect image in The Dirty Picture, director MilanLuthria is planning to explore the dark, subtle side of AkshayKumar in his much anticipated sequel of Once Upon a Time InMumbaai.
The director, who loves to cast his actors against theirpopular image, is looking forward to score a hat-trick with thefilm, which begins shooting in July.
"The whole idea is to pick up a challenge. I want tocatch the certain dark, emotional and subtle style of Akshaywhich I feel has not been explored much. When you present sucha big star in a different way it adds a lot of intrigue forhis fans," Luthria said.
Akshay too is looking forward to the action film, whichwill be a change for him after a spate of comedies.
The director says that though he takes inspiration fromthe era when gangsters ruled Mumbai, his film is not aboutDawood Ibrahim or Chhota Shakeel.
It is, as he puts it, 'large doses of fiction' whichtouches upon issues that remind people of that era. He prefersto call his film 'a love triangle'.
"I would not call it a gangster film at all. It is aboutpeople from underworld who have high sense of drama and leadhigh voltage life. It is actually more of a love triangle inthe tradition of Muqaddar Ka Sikandar. It is large doses offiction with some reality in it.
"What I am trying to do is to recreate an era wheregangsters had gangster friends. Some of these friendships didnot turn out well. They also had this fascination forBollywood actresses and courted them. These are the elementsthat I have picked up."
Luthria grew up watching the cinema of the '70s which hefeels has contributed a lot to his style of moviemaking,'which has larger than life quality and where heroes speak thelanguage of flamboyance and drama.'
The flamboyant style was quite visible in his last twohits Once Upon a Time In Mumbaai and The Dirty Picture,which earned Vidya Balan her first National award. Luthria toocounts it among his best films.
"This movie was trully a turning point. It had a cosmicquality to it and I think we had a stroke of genius when wecast Vidya to play Silk. I was often accused of doing maledominated films by my friends but I did not want to make a sobstory. This particular story was perfect and I am stillsurprised that we managed to pull off something so daring."
Another thing that Luthria has come to treasure in hiscareer is the trust that he inspires in his actors, whichoften helps him get unmatched performances from them.
"Thankfully, actors do trust me a lot. I talk a lot to myactors. When we started working on The Dirty Picture, I toldVidya 'You trust me and do what I say and if at the end of theday you think that there is something objectionable I willremove it'. I was extremely protective about her because Icould sense a lot of courage."
Luthria made his directorial debut with Kachche Dhaagein 1999 and went on to direct films like Chori Chori,Deewaar, Taxi Number 9211 and Hattrick.Though his first film and Taxi Number 9211 did well andwere appreciated for their content, the turning point forLuthria came with 2010 drama Once Upon a Time In Mumbaai,which was followed by The Dirty Picture.
The director, however, feels that each of his filmshelped him learn something.
"I am happy with all my films whether they did well atthe box office or not. I am happy to have had a gradual careergraph. It kept me real as a person. I am happy that I cannotbe called a fluke now. I have made some wonderful friendsalong the way and I have large bank of ideas which I want toconvert into great, entertaining films."
The director, who loves to cast his actors against theirpopular image, is looking forward to score a hat-trick with thefilm, which begins shooting in July.
"The whole idea is to pick up a challenge. I want tocatch the certain dark, emotional and subtle style of Akshaywhich I feel has not been explored much. When you present sucha big star in a different way it adds a lot of intrigue forhis fans," Luthria said.
Akshay too is looking forward to the action film, whichwill be a change for him after a spate of comedies.
The director says that though he takes inspiration fromthe era when gangsters ruled Mumbai, his film is not aboutDawood Ibrahim or Chhota Shakeel.
It is, as he puts it, 'large doses of fiction' whichtouches upon issues that remind people of that era. He prefersto call his film 'a love triangle'.
"I would not call it a gangster film at all. It is aboutpeople from underworld who have high sense of drama and leadhigh voltage life. It is actually more of a love triangle inthe tradition of Muqaddar Ka Sikandar. It is large doses offiction with some reality in it.
"What I am trying to do is to recreate an era wheregangsters had gangster friends. Some of these friendships didnot turn out well. They also had this fascination forBollywood actresses and courted them. These are the elementsthat I have picked up."
Luthria grew up watching the cinema of the '70s which hefeels has contributed a lot to his style of moviemaking,'which has larger than life quality and where heroes speak thelanguage of flamboyance and drama.'
The flamboyant style was quite visible in his last twohits Once Upon a Time In Mumbaai and The Dirty Picture,which earned Vidya Balan her first National award. Luthria toocounts it among his best films.
"This movie was trully a turning point. It had a cosmicquality to it and I think we had a stroke of genius when wecast Vidya to play Silk. I was often accused of doing maledominated films by my friends but I did not want to make a sobstory. This particular story was perfect and I am stillsurprised that we managed to pull off something so daring."
Another thing that Luthria has come to treasure in hiscareer is the trust that he inspires in his actors, whichoften helps him get unmatched performances from them.
"Thankfully, actors do trust me a lot. I talk a lot to myactors. When we started working on The Dirty Picture, I toldVidya 'You trust me and do what I say and if at the end of theday you think that there is something objectionable I willremove it'. I was extremely protective about her because Icould sense a lot of courage."
Luthria made his directorial debut with Kachche Dhaagein 1999 and went on to direct films like Chori Chori,Deewaar, Taxi Number 9211 and Hattrick.Though his first film and Taxi Number 9211 did well andwere appreciated for their content, the turning point forLuthria came with 2010 drama Once Upon a Time In Mumbaai,which was followed by The Dirty Picture.
The director, however, feels that each of his filmshelped him learn something.
"I am happy with all my films whether they did well atthe box office or not. I am happy to have had a gradual careergraph. It kept me real as a person. I am happy that I cannotbe called a fluke now. I have made some wonderful friendsalong the way and I have large bank of ideas which I want toconvert into great, entertaining films."
