Manish Acharya's hilariously tongue-in-cheek takeoff on the cult of Bollywood-based music contests has whetted his appetite for further homages to our popular filmic culture. He now wants to move from the NRI groove to the more mainstream mode of storytelling.
Just back from a 2-week break in New York, Acharya says, "I believe Om Shanti Om is homage to the Hindi cinema of the 1970s. To me the Hindi cinema of the 1980s, especially those of Mr. Bachchan and Mithun Chakbraborty are the quintessential potboilers. Today, when you look back at them, you can see they're open to so many interpretations. For example, the 80s had villains living in houses with a lava-pit under their living-room floors. Can you imagine the electricity bills for air-conditioning in these villains' homes?"
AB has been paid rich tributes in Acharya's first film. "It's Mithun-da I really want to pay homage to now. I want to go back to all his Gunmaster G-9, Disco Dancer films, retrieve the sub linear spoofiness and wackiness in them. Make it with one of Bollywood's reigning star who also happens to be Mithun's fans. And I want to make it in Hindi from Mumbai."
The confidence to crossover from the US to Bollywood comes from the fact that Manish’s premiere satire has been universally applauded. "It has done well enough to keep everyone involved happy. Loins Of Punjab had no big stars, except Shabana who’s a cult figure and is associated with a particular kind of cinema. I hope to see Loins Of Punjab occupy the same satirical space as the Ajay Naidu flick Office Space."
Though he has offers to make more films in the NRI circuit, Manish has now moved to Mumbai with his wife and kids. "The other day, I saw my 6-year old son dance the full Dard-e-disco track on his skating board. I'm going to patent that unusual dance-form and use it in my Mithun homage."
Courtesy: IndiaFM
