This Friday, Ben Hur Returns , And ‘Happy’ Is All Set To Be A Runaway Bride

The surprisingly steep success of Rustom places a question mark on the releases this Friday. But Viacom which releases the new swanky version of the 1959 all-time classic Ben Hur is hoping for a kill in spite of the ricocheting Rustom affect on the Indian boxoffice.

“We are releasing Ben Hur in four languages English Hindi Tamil and Telugu. It has the kind of timeless resonance that needn’t rely on  boxoffice trends to make an impact,” says a Viacom source.

This new version of Ben Hur is directed by the Russian director Timur Bekmambetov chosen by the Paramount studios for  what he promises rather than what he has so far delivered.

This Friday’s Hindi release marks a comeback of sorts of the lovely Diana Penty who made such a telling impact in  Homi Adjania’s Cocktail 4 years ago. After that , nothing happened to her career…Until producerAanand Rai offered her this author-backed film , an Indo-Pak Tanu Weds Manu where  ‘Tanu’ now named Happy runs away from her marriage and lands up in Pakistan.

These wild unpredictable heroines of Aanand Rai, I tell you!

Indo-Pak tales from Bollywood   have so far ranged from the tepid Veer-Zara to the disastrous Welcome To Karachi. Let’s hope director Mudassar Aziz(known in the past for his proximity to Sushmita Sen) gets it right this time.

Not that producer Aanand Rai is worried. “Every film comes from a certain conviction and faith that the audience would respond to the content. We are confident that the cross-border message of Happy Bhaag Jayegiwill be appreciated.”