The survivor
ANIL KAPOOR has been Bollywood’s biggest survivor for nearly two decades. At a time when most of his contemporaries have shifted gear and ventured into the character artiste mould, Anil still runs around with girls half his age doing the routine song and dance numbers. It is an open secret in the industry that Anil Kapoor films are mainly remakes of Tamil and Telugu hits. But his last remake of Shankar’s “Muthalvan” titled “Nayak’ went awry and collapsed at the box-office. So this time, for his new film “Badhai Ho Badhai”, Anil is said to have taken the Eddie Murphy “Nutty Professor” character and garnished it with a lot of ‘desi’ sentiment.
Kapoor wanted the “Nutty Professor” look, which he managed with the help of Mathew Muryle, the make-up man of “Schindler’s List”, who transformed him into the nearly 200-kilo Raja. So far, only Kamalhassan has dared to do something different like this before in films like “Apoorva Sahodarargal” and “Avvai Shanmughi”. Speaking over the phone from Mumbai, Anil Kapoor said, “I have co-produced “Badhai Ho Badhai” with director Satish Kaushik. It is being marketed by Muktha Arts. It is an entertainer, a feel-good film about a man who spreads happiness and love wherever he goes. The film also talks about serious issues such as communalism”. Anil is confident that ‘Fatso’ Raja will pull his weight at the box-office, this Friday.
SREEDHAR PILLAI
Hindu On Net
Rock On 2011 