Yes, Ranbir Kapoor Will Play  Kishore Kumar, But Conditions Apply!

Anurag Basu will finally get to make the Kishore Kumar bio-pic that he has been hankering to make for the past five years.

But the glitches and  hitches  were many, and seemingly insurmountable. To begin with Ranbir Kapoor needed to give  dates at a stretch so that the various stages in  KK’s  life could be captured in their chronological essence.

But Ranbir was  unable to set aside bulk dates for Kishore(the bio-pic’s tentative title).But  now the dates are  not a  problem.

Says Anurag Basu, “Ranbir and I  are certainly doing Kishore. We’d have gone into it right after Barfi. But then Ranbir got committed to Bombay Velvet.So I decided to make Jagga Jasoos first. Kishore can’t be made in breaks and spurts. It has to be done in one long stretch.”

But at what cost? The Kishore Kumar bio-pic written by  writer-director Somik Sen( who directed Madhuri Dixit in Gulab Gang) has been waiting for approval  from Kishore Kumar’s family, not just  elder son  singer Amit Kumar , but also the  younger son Sumeet Kumar and wife Leena Chandavarkar.

Acting on Kishore Kumar’s family’s behalf Amit Kumar made it explicitly clear to Anurag  basu that nothing would go into the film on his father without his consent.

Anurag Basu has apparently agreed to let Amit Kumar exercise complete creative control over the project.

Says  a well-informed source, “Initially Anurag Basu fought  off  Amit Kumar’s claims as far as he could. But then matters came to such a head where it was either Koshore Kumar with Amit or  no Kishore Kumar at all. Anurag decided to drop the project at one point, rather than let Amit have  the final say in the content. But now  Anurag has agreed to Amit Kumar’s conditions.”

Apparently  nothing would go into the Kishore Kumar bio-pic without Amit Kumar’s approval, not even the songs!

Basu would have to pay through his nose to buy rights for  30-35  Kishore Kumar evergreens from Sa Re Ga Ma/HMV.  From these  the ones that  go in  the  film would be selected by Amit,Sumeet and their mother Leena Chandavarkar.

According to a source close to the development Anurag and Ranbir are not happy with the pre-conditions imposed on their Kishore Kumar project. “But the choice was between making the film with  pre-conditions or not making it at all. Both Anurag and Ranbir have decided  it’s  better to realize their dream project even with someone breathing down their  necks rather than giving up the dream.”