After the debacle that was Cash, director Anubhav Sinha is looking forward to the mega budget Ra.One. Starring Shah Rukh Khan in a larger-than-life role, the film is high on action and special effects and Anubhav says it cemented his partnership with SRK in the most creatively satisfying way.
“Ra.One could not have been made without Shah Rukh,” Anubhav asserts. “I could not visualise anyone as a superhero. The film required Shah Rukh to act not only as a producer, but also as an actor with a vision.”
Anubhav admits that he wanted to break away from the mythology genre which is what most superhero fare has been concerned with. “Krissh opened a few doors, but Ra.One will move the genre ahead by a few notches. It has all the trappings of a Hollywood venture,” says Anubhav with conviction.
It was this very conviction that helped the director to persevere with the project in the tough days after Cash bombed at the box office. Anubhav recounts the four-year-long process. “No one was ready to put in so much money into the film. The superhero subject made it an expensive proposition, but in Shah Rukh, I found someone who would back my vision. I narrated the script to him 10 days before Om Shanti Om released. It was a gamble we took. There were so many variables…anything could have gone wrong,” he adds.
But although the director and his star were on the same page where the project was concerned, the highly charged atmosphere on sets did lead to a few creative differences between the two. Anubhav shrugs it off with a “you cannot make a film without disagreeing. A debate is healthy if it betters your film. In fact the best ideas take root during a disagreement”.
The industry is abuzz with rumours that Anubhav has been asked to helm two Hollywood projects but the director is keeping mum about it for now, preferring to talk about the upcoming Kabootar, directed by his assistant Maqbool Khan. And his plans after that? “A long vacation in the Bahamas,” Anubhav quips, tongue firmly in cheek.