| Akshay left Life Partner over money, says director  Writer-turned-director Rumi Jafry had finalised Akshay Kumar for his
second film "Life Partner", but says the star, who is known to charge
exorbitant fees, backed out of the project on monetary issues. "Akshay
had a huge role in 'Life Partner'. He had already said yes to the role
and all dates were fixed. He was equally excited but due to price
issues between him and the producers Abbas-Mustan he backed out of the
project," Jafry told IANS over phone from Mumbai. "I also
discussed the matter with Abbas-bhai but he said 'to let him go' as
they could not settle on a price. We then roped in Govinda and luckily
the role has come out very well," the director added. The film marks director duo Abbas-Mustan's entry as producers for filmmakers other than themselves. "Life
Partner" is a comedy and Jafry, who as a writer has been associated
with comedies throughout his career, says audiences expect him to
deliver funny films as a director too. "Taking my previous
record into account, audiences expect comedies from me and I deliver
that. But I always try to and will keep a Hrishi-da (Mukherjee) touch
in my movies with a message infused with laughter in all of them," said
Jafry, who has scripted hit romantic comedies like "Mujhse Shaadi
Karogi" (2004), "Hero No.1" (1997) and "Coolie No.1" (1995). Set
in Cape Town, South Africa, the film deals with the theme of "marriage"
and stars Tusshar Kapoor, Prachi Desai, Fardeen Khan, Genelia D'Souza
and Govinda in pivotal roles. Tusshar plays a Gujarati guy who
believes in arranged marriage and Prachi plays his wife, while
Fardeen's character believes in love marriage and is paired with
Genelia. Govinda plays a divorce lawyer, who doesn't believe
in the convention of marriage at all. The film also has a surprise
element - the actress opposite Govinda. "The film is about
relationships and is an out-and-out comedy. Like all my films, even
this one has a message - marriage is an essential part of life. As the
world is progressing, relationships are crumbling and are not that deep
any more. I'm sure it will leave the audiences thinking without
compromising on their laughter," Jafry said. What is interesting is that he zeroed in on the story after it was given a "sensible" nod by superstar Shah Rukh Khan. "I
came out with the idea for the movie while I was writing 'Chalte
Chalte' (2003) in Greece. I was discussing it with Shah Rukh (Khan) and
Rani (Mukerji) and Shah Rukh asked me to make a film on it. He gave
such a positive reaction to it and considering his sensibility and
understanding of scripts, I realised I should go for it," he said. Told
that the storyline sounds similar to the 1982 film "Shriman Shrimati",
Jafry said: "I haven't even heard of any such movie. Now that you've
said it, I'll have to watch it. There's no other inspiration behind
"Life Partner" than the crumbling of relationships." The movie
was completed very quickly. "It took me five years to complete my first
project, so I made sure to wrap up the second in only five months,"
quipped Jafry. "Life Partner" was slated to release May 1, but
has been pushed forward due to the ongoing revenue-sharing tussle
between producers and multiplexes. Indo-Asian News Service |
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