Govinda reneges on promise!

Sharmila Taliculam

Promises are made and broken every day in the Hindi film industry.

Nothing new.

But then there are some that make you sit up in attention. Especially when it is a star like Govinda. And when he goes back on his word to a young director.

The director in question is Tanuja Chandra, whose last film, Sangharsh, was released last year and fared average at the BO. It also made the industry sit up and take notice of the young woman director.

Sangharsh was a gory, action-oriented film. But the next time round, Tanuja wanted something different.

So she chose a dramatic and emotional film about a budding pop singer. The film stars Amisha Patel as the pop singer and was to star Govinda as the journalist who trails her and gets romantically involved with her. The film also has Nafisa Ali and Gulshan Grover in major roles.

Only, Govinda went back on the promise he made Mahesh Bhatt and Tanuja Chandra. "He promised us that he would give us dates. Then he got this television show to anchor (Chappad Phad Ke). So he postponed his dates with us. I didn't want to wait. So I decided to go ahead with Jimmy Shergill, instead."

From Govinda to Jimmy is quite a change. Jimmy only has three films to his credit, while Govinda is a star. Tanuja hastens to add, "I am very confident of Jimmy doing the role perfectly. Besides, newcomers do give a freshness to a film which Jimmy definitely has. In fact, I am quite grateful to Govinda. Now, with Jimmy, the film will go as scheduled."

Tanuja had watched Jimmy in Maachis and liked him very much. "But I never had the opportunity to work with him. Now I do and I am sure he will do a good job of it."

When asked about replacing Govinda, Jimmy said, "I really don’t know whether I am a replacement or no, but Tanuja approached me and I said yes to the film. The character is very interesting and I play a very street smart guy". This would definitely be a different role for Jimmy from the soft romantic roles he has been playing till now.

Continuing about the film, Tanuja says, "She (the pop singer) reads in a third-rate newspaper that her father is not her real father. In fact, he had adopted her by producing fake certificates. So at the age of 18-19, her world falls apart and she decides to go in search of her real parents."

"Meanwhile, her father slaps a Rs five crore case on the newspaper that wrote the article. A journalist from the paper goes along with her to convince her to withdraw the case since the newspaper can't afford the lawsuit."

Nafisa Ali plays the mother who abandons her child and refuses to acknowledge her when her daughter finds her later. "Amisha gets to the bottom of this, finds out some things about her mother's past and tries to correct it," says Tanuja.

The film is produced by Tanuja's mentor, Mahesh Bhatt, who has written the script, too.

"I am doing almost four films with Vishesh and the next which is for Pooja (Bhatt) is also happening soon. We have signed Lucky Ali for the role and we are on the lookout for an actress. Once we find her, we will announce the film," reveals Tanuja.

But the film under discussion is not Tanuja's trademark action film. In fact, she says, "It's like a suspense but not a whodunit. We are already shooting for the film and it should be ready some time next year."