Yay, Rani’s back!!!! I can’t decide if all these 90s actresses coming back is because the 90s really did have the best batch, or because the industry has finally started to accept women over 35 as more than just mothers. Probably a combo of the two.
UPDATE: Filmilibrarian reminded me in the comments that we might have heard about this movie before, there was a rumored biopic on Kalpana Chawla, the American astronaut with the same director and Rani attached a few months back. Here is my post on that news, which includes some additional details on this director.
Rani news is officially confirmed, she will be starring in a movie produced by Maneesh Sharma and directed by Siddharth Malhotra for Yash Raj. Here is her quote about it:
“I was looking for a script that would challenge and excite me, and Hichki came my way. Each of us has a weakness that pulls us back. It could be a disability or any condition but if we just look at it as simply a hiccup, we can emerge as a winner. It won’t come in the way of achieving our dreams. Hichki is built on this positive premise and I decided to take it up.” – See more at: http://www.bollywoodhungama.com/news/bollywood/revealed-rani-mukerji-will-next-seen-hichki/#sthash.U0wcdQJC.dpuf
Is “Hichki” hiccup? I know that is how it was translated in Mirzya, but I wasn’t sure. It can’t be a movie actually about hiccups, right? There most be some other weakness that hiccup is referring to.
The production team is the part I find really interesting. Siddharth Malhotra’s only previous film was We Are Family, which was a modest success and then completely forgotten. And not terribly imaginative, since it was just a remake of Stepmom. And now he is handed Rani’s post-baby comeback film?
More interesting, Maneesh Sharma is producing? The whole position of “producer” here is a brand new thing for India. In Indian-film parlance usually “producer” means the person who put up the money and pulled some strings to bring in the stars. Occasionally it also means someone who acts as an artistic mentor to the film, usually a director who doesn’t have the time to officially direct the movie but does everything-but-directing, finds the script and coordinates the shoot and comes up with the theme and so on. Like Guru Dutt and Sahib Biwi Aur Ghulam or Yash Chopra and Doosri Aadmi. Technically those films were directed by someone else, but the real “Auteur” of the film was Guru or Yash.
Aditya and Karan clearly follow that older tradition of artistic mentor with their productions. They are there every step of the way holding the hand of their directors, making sure it feels like a Yash Raj or a Dharma production. And Farhan does the same with his Excel films, Anurag with his Phantom, etc.
But now there is Aditya running Yash Raj, Siddharth directing this film, and Maneesh Sharma suddenly sliding in between them? What is Maneesh’s role? Is Aditya transitioning into being a “grandmentor”? He has taught Maneesh everything, and now Maneesh is going to turn around and pass it down to someone else? Or is this just a corporate structure thing, Maneesh is the point man for all the decisions instead of tossing it around to various departments, and the real artistic vision is still shared between Aditya and Siddharth? I don’t know! But what’s for sure is that this announcement shows Aditya still has faith in Maneesh as an artist and executive post the Fan debacle, which is nice.
Oh, and a new Phillauri song! Which I really like. Very melodious. And again, I love the edits between the past and the present. I don’t know how they will do that in the film, but I hope they can keep the feeling of both periods overlapping and existing simultaneously. And I really hope they can figure out a way to give Anushka and Diljit a happy ending!
Finally, on a completely shallow note, Anushka’s face looks fuller, doesn’t it? Maybe it’s just because she has a no-make-up look, but she appears much more like she did way back in Rab Ne than she has in any of her other more recent films. I like it.
And the first trailer for that Vivaan movie is out! No subtitles, so I’m not sure if I am understanding correctly. But I think Vivaan is a lowly barista who fell in love with a pretty girl, they started dating, she got pregnant, and then he learned she was a fabulously wealthy princess? Also, some fabulously wealthy prince person was already in love with her? Is that correct? I know it looks like she is doing all the bridal stuff while being clearly pregnant, which I find delightful. If you know Hindi and can translate more for us, please do!
dontcallitbollywood 
I love that Phillauri song! I think it’s my favorite of the three that have been released. I am a bit disappointed that Diljit isn’t singing on any of these. I really love all of his songs from the Punjabi films. I think that he has a really nice and distinctive singing voice. I’m still holding out hope that he’ll sing on at least one of the songs.
And that is very interesting news about Rani’s “comeback” film. I would think that Aditya would want to be very involved in this. I’m glad that he still seems to have confidence in Maneesh Sharma because the man is brilliant and very talented. Hopefully the team will cook up something fantastic and worthy of “the Queen”!
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Diljit isn’t singing? That’s too bad, I hadn’t noticed that.
On Mon, Feb 27, 2017 at 3:22 PM, dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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I love Rani! I’m so glad she’s making a comeback 🙂
We are Family wasn’t really a bad movie from what I remember and Maneesh Sharma’s last production, Dum Laga Ke Haisha, was pretty good too. I read somewhere that Adi Chopra signed Maneesh Sharma to a 3 film production contract where Adi will basically provide the funding and promotions but he won’t interfere creatively. The first movie was DLKH, the second is Meri Pyaari Bindu, and the final film is Hichki. I’m sure if these movies succeed like DLKH, Maneesh will be given the opportunity to produce more films for YRF.
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That’s a lot of control to give Maneesh. But then, his other producer credits have been solid earners for Yash Raj. And Fan was stone-cold brilliant. Not commercial, but brilliant. Do you think it is possible that Maneesh is being groomed as a second in command at Yash Raj? Since Uday hasn’t panned out and Adirani is a baby?
On Mon, Feb 27, 2017 at 4:51 PM, dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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So far I think Maneesh has only produced Dum Laga Ke Haisha, but yes it did pretty well and it was a small budget film. I think Meri Pyaari Bindu is also being made on a small budget.
It’s totally possible that Adi Chopra is grooming Maneesh to be a second in command at Yash Raj. He’s one of the only directors other than Ali Abbas Zafar that hasn’t left Yash Raj yet and both of them has made 4 films each. I think he can keep progressing Yash Raj in the future.
Would you agree with me that Yash Raj is better at finding talent but Dharma is better at nurturing the talent that they have. For example, Alia has gotten movies like 2 States, Humpty Sharma, and Dear Zindagi while Ranveer ended up getting movies like Kill/Dil and Befikre. Plus Anushka, Parineeti, Vaani Kapoor, and Bhumi Pednekar all ended up changing their bodies during their careers. It makes me wonder if there is some kind of pressure from Adi Chopra.
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From the interviews around Fan, he mentioned he also helped produce Daawaat-E-Ishq and something else I can’t remember. Shuddh Desi Romance maybe? He talked about how he had the script for Fan ten years ago when he first came to Yash Raj, and Aditya kept giving him other jobs in the meantime until he felt the script, and Maneesh, were ready. Which also, come to think of it, sounds like maybe he was being groomed! Like Aditya wanted him to work on a whole variety of films and be supervised as the unofficial producer on these smaller projects.
That’s a really interesting thought, about Yash Raj having a hard time nurturing talent! I wonder if it’s because they still haven’t recovered from using Yashji? I know Aditya had been running the day to day for decades, but Yash was the heart and soul of the studio that everyone knew and loved. Maybe Aditya just doesn’t have that touch of getting to know and understand people the way Yashji did, after he had discovered them?
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Oh, I didn’t know that. If he also produced a movie like Daawat-e-Ishq, which is something that he had no other connection too then I wouldn’t be surprised if he was being groomed by Aditya.
One other thing to look at is that the YRF talent has really flourished after they sort of left YRF. For example Anushka’s on top now and she’s only done one Yash Raj movie in the past 3 years as opposed to doing five out of her first six films with them. Similarly Ranveer and Arjun found huge success with Ram-Leela and 2 States respectively. Even Kabir Khan ended making a Bajrangi Bhaijaan after he left YRF.
I think you may be right about Yashji being the missing factor. Isn’t Adi Chopra an introvert while Yashji was that person that everyone loved. I’m sure that Yashji was a much better mentor to the young talent than Aditya is now. But Yash Raj is still really good at finding talented actors and directors.
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Good point about how the talent succeeds once they leave. I wonder what will happen with Vaani Kapoor now?
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Last I heard about Vaani Kapoor was that she was going to be the lead in Thugs of Hindostan. But that was before Befikre came out so I don’t know. She still has one more film on her film YRF contract.
I personally would love to see her in ABCD 3 with Varun if that every happens!
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Oh, that would be great! To see her in ABCD 3. I really liked her in Befikre, it was a difficult part, and she did it well. And her dancing was phenomenal, and would be a great match for Varun, both very physical and athletic.
On Tue, Feb 28, 2017 at 5:01 PM, dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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Yes hichki means hiccup.
Looking forward to seeing Rani back on our screens 🙂
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Me too! And the title is so intriguing. I would be done for a movie that is actually about a woman who can’t stop hiccuping. But if it is a metaphor, it could be anything from a humorous story of a marriage getting over a rough patch, to a heart breaking tale of tragedy and survival. Or something totally off the wall like she starts a home for recovering prostitutes.
On Mon, Feb 27, 2017 at 4:55 PM, dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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Oh, I like the home for recovering prostitutes idea. Sort of a spiritual successor to Laaga Chunari Mein Daag or Gulabji from Saawariya!
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Wasn’t Rani attached to a film about the astronaut Kalpana Chawla? Or was that Vidya? Doesn’t sound like this is that film though. I kind of enjoyed We Are Family. I think it’s one of Kajol’s best performances and Arjun Rampal is quietly effective, too.
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I thought I remembered the same thing, about the Kalpana biopic. I looked up my older post about that, and it is the same director, Siddharth P Malhotra. So it could be the same project, or a similar project. I could believe that either it is a Kalpana bio but they don’t want to promote that just yet so are pretending it is something else. Or that it is a Kalpana bio like Sultan was a Geeta Phogat bio, they just took the idea of a female astronaut and then turned it into something else entirely.
On Tue, Feb 28, 2017 at 8:19 AM, dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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