odadune
Star of the item number
not around much due to stuff in my personal life.
Posts: 1,494
Favorite actor: Currently a certain Kumar, but I like most of them
Favorite actress: whoever's in films I'm interested in this week
|
Post by odadune on Mar 20, 2014 13:16:48 GMT
This one's been rumored on and off for a while; I think the first I heard of it was in March or May of 2013. There would be leaks from people in the know, and then Akki would pop up and say things like "Yeah, I may be doing another film with Neeraj" or Neeraj would say (paraphrasing): "Go away, I'm still writing it." But in an early March 2014 interview, Akshay said he would start another film with Neeraj Pandey "in a month or so" and also said they hadn't "zeroed in on a lead" opposite him. (In his fractured English he did not specify a gender, but usually this is the way people talk about casting the love interest, so he means they haven't picked an actress for that yet.)
What we know so far: -Neeraj is actually directing, not just writing or producing
-aimed for weekend of January 26, 2015
-espionage/intrigue thriller in the vein of the Bourne series or Daniel Craig Bond movies, "but without the fantasy elements"
-it seems to have been an idea Neeraj was kicking around for a while and pitched to Akshay at some point during the filming or promotion of Special 26
-inspired by current events to about the same degree as A Wednesday and Special 26 were
-"patriotic" component, but probably with Neeraj's sometimes oblique brand of social commentary going on
-takes place both in India and overseas
-music most likely by MM Kreem again; seems a safe bet that some of the usual suspects (Manoj Bajpai, Anupam Kher, Naseeruddin Shah, Jimmy Shergill) will be in the supporting cast
-Sonakshi was hinting last summer that she would like to work w/ Neeraj Pandey; it seems a safe bet that she's in the running for the love interest, but I don't think it's guaranteed
|
|
odadune
Star of the item number
not around much due to stuff in my personal life.
Posts: 1,494
Favorite actor: Currently a certain Kumar, but I like most of them
Favorite actress: whoever's in films I'm interested in this week
|
Post by odadune on Apr 13, 2014 2:32:49 GMT
Casting news! And shooting news! Man, Neeraj sure loves those wholesome, girl-next-door Punjabi ladies turned South Indian starlets turned Bollywood n00bs, huh? timesofindia.indiatimes.com/entertainment/hindi/bollywood/news-interviews/Taapsee-Pannu-Akshay-Kumar-play-secret-agents-in-Neeraj-Pandeys-next/articleshow/33655761.cms?Tapsee has said, circa her work in the Chasme Buddoor remake, that she wasn't interested in being paired with older men in Bollywood (it has happened in her career down south though), so I don't know whether this represents a backpedalling on her part or she's some kind of not-love interest. (The article mentions an as-yet uncast wife for Akshay's character.) ETA: found a link to her twitter account, where she's all giddy about the news and stuff; basically she really liked the idea of playing a secret agent and apparently playing in an action film with Akki was something she always wanted to do.
|
|
odadune
Star of the item number
not around much due to stuff in my personal life.
Posts: 1,494
Favorite actor: Currently a certain Kumar, but I like most of them
Favorite actress: whoever's in films I'm interested in this week
|
Post by odadune on May 2, 2014 13:41:58 GMT
Well, the gang is shooting in Nepal as we speak, and Taapsee tweeted a picture of French martial artist and stunt coordinator Cyril Raffaelli, so I guess he's involved in some capacity. (there were reports of Akki picking out a Krav Maga instructor to train up Taapsee, but I'm not sure if that was him.)
|
|
odadune
Star of the item number
not around much due to stuff in my personal life.
Posts: 1,494
Favorite actor: Currently a certain Kumar, but I like most of them
Favorite actress: whoever's in films I'm interested in this week
|
Post by odadune on May 4, 2014 14:39:23 GMT
This film apparently has a working title of "Baby." Combined with the rumors that they were looking for a young actress to play Akshay's daughter, I'm wondering if this might turn out to be Neeraj's answer to that subgenre of western-made spy movies about the characters' private and professional lives colliding (Mr and Mrs Smith, True Lies, etc.) You see something a bit similar in Special 26, in the glimpses of what the CBI inspector does when he's off-duty, and what the conmen do between heists. Oh, yeah, and because I'm feeling self-indulgent here picture of a certain cast member in costume posing with a Nepali fan:
|
|
odadune
Star of the item number
not around much due to stuff in my personal life.
Posts: 1,494
Favorite actor: Currently a certain Kumar, but I like most of them
Favorite actress: whoever's in films I'm interested in this week
|
Post by odadune on Aug 12, 2014 11:18:52 GMT
Anupam Kher recently tweeted that he was working on the film so, woohoo! Neeraj is getting the Special 26 band back together again. Telugu star Rana Daggubati (who had a supporting role in Players and a guest appearance in Yeh Jeewani Hai Deewani) is also in this, and they're reputed to be starting another schedule in Mumbai/Delhi in October.
|
|
odadune
Star of the item number
not around much due to stuff in my personal life.
Posts: 1,494
Favorite actor: Currently a certain Kumar, but I like most of them
Favorite actress: whoever's in films I'm interested in this week
|
Post by odadune on Dec 4, 2014 1:02:55 GMT
Trailer (warning, contains police brutality and other forms of violence, and a somewhat cartoony Muslim fundamentalist who may not be what he appears)
It's hard to explain why I think Cartoony Muslim Fundamentalist is not what he appears, except that the director didn't go there in his 26/11-inspired "A Wednesday", has a reputation for plot twists, and managed to talk a quite respected Muslim Pakistani actor into taking the role. And how-can I put this?-the producers and stars of Holiday were a bit defensive whenever "Does this film hurt Muslim sentiments?" questions would come up during the publicity rounds. The equivalent people at the Baby trailer launch seemed much more blasé about similar questions.
Personally, I liked the trailer, found it intriguing without giving too much away.
|
|
odadune
Star of the item number
not around much due to stuff in my personal life.
Posts: 1,494
Favorite actor: Currently a certain Kumar, but I like most of them
Favorite actress: whoever's in films I'm interested in this week
|
Post by odadune on Dec 16, 2014 0:24:02 GMT
Cyril Raffaelli talks about working on the film:
We are not going to be getting much in the way of song promos here-even though the poster lists MM Kreem, Meet Brothers Anjaan, and Ankit Tiwari as being in charge of the music, supposedly there is only one promotional song; I would *guess* that it's composed by MM Kreem and sung in different versions by Ankit and Meet Brothers (and maybe MM Kreem, he did a version of Mujhe Mein Tu for the Special 26 soundtrack).
|
|
odadune
Star of the item number
not around much due to stuff in my personal life.
Posts: 1,494
Favorite actor: Currently a certain Kumar, but I like most of them
Favorite actress: whoever's in films I'm interested in this week
|
Post by odadune on Jan 3, 2015 15:17:41 GMT
Promotional song Beparwah, audio only:
It's by Meet Brothers Anjaan, plus a female lead vocalist called Apeksha Dandekar, whom I am not familiar with. I liked it, it's kind of hypnotic.
Some of the commenters remarked that it felt like a James Bond theme song (not in a derivative way, just in belonging to that genre of music), and Bollymeaning.com's take on the lyrics seemed to bear that out. Might play over the opening credits (in James Bond fashion) or end credits (like Dharpakad from Special 26).
Brief, somewhat enigmatic video showing Akshay's character in both his professional and personal lives:
|
|
odadune
Star of the item number
not around much due to stuff in my personal life.
Posts: 1,494
Favorite actor: Currently a certain Kumar, but I like most of them
Favorite actress: whoever's in films I'm interested in this week
|
Post by odadune on Jan 14, 2015 12:53:31 GMT
Love song, apparently a flashback to the protagonist wooing his (then future) wife and the early stages of their marriage. I found it cute, but YMMV depending on your tolerance for Akshay, Madhurima, minimalistic love songs, and/or couple doing low-key romantic stuff together:
The Esha Gupta video for Beparwah is out now, and she looks great, but it uses too much footage from the movie for my liking and ventures into spoiler territory.
|
|