An Irresponsible Director: Rishi on Anurag Basu Post Jagga Debacle

Ranbir Kapoor is one of the producers of ‘Jagga Jasoos’ and “his neck is in the noose”, he says.

Ranbir Kapoor and Katrina Kaif’s Jagga Jasoos hasn’t been shining too brightly at the box office. It has raked in all of approximately Rs 430 million (Rs 43.12 crore gross) till 23 July, according to Box Office India - it was made with a budget of Rs 1.1 billion. And Ranbir’s father, Rishi Kapoor, is not at all happy with director Anurag Basu. Kapoor senior has lashed out against the Jagga Jasoos director for not showing the film to producers before releasing it - Ranbir is one of the co-producers of the film.

Not one to mince words, Rishi Kapoor, in an interview to Mid-Day, accused Anurag Basu of being irresponsible with other people’s time and money. According to him, the director was mixing the film till Wednesday, with the release due the next day. He said music director Pritam didn’t submit his music on time either.

Honestly, Neetu [wife] and I saw the film on Thursday, only a day ahead of the release. Till Wednesday, Anurag Basu was still mixing the film. Can you imagine that? Pritam [composer] probably delivered the music only a week before. What can you say? You (Basu) don’t take an opinion from anybody... He’s such an irresponsible director that he doesn’t complete the film. It was supposed to release three times in the past two years, but it kept getting delayed.

Rishi Kapoor, Actor

Also read: Another Generation’s ‘Mr India’: The Genius of ‘Jagga Jasoos’

Rishi commented on how the release of Jagga Jasoos was put off in markets like the Gulf and Singapore because of last minute post-production delays. “This is unreasonable and irresponsible. You may be thinking you are making the Taj Mahal, but you are supposed to make it ready on time,” he said.

He is especially angry because Ranbir Kapoor had invested heavily in the film.

But here, Ranbir is the producer too, and his neck is in the noose. Who the hell are you [Basu] to do all this? It is ridiculous that a producer hadn’t seen his product a day ahead of the film’s release. You may be the biggest director in the world but nobody would like to work with you because you are irresponsible. There is somebody else’s money involved in this. I trusted you, and this is what you give us? Ranbir hasn’t held back on spending money on it.

Rishi also commented on how Govinda was thrown out of the film unfairly, and that all this was tainting the Kapoor name - “ If you don't want Govinda to work in your film, why did you ask him in the first place? Iss sab mein Ranbir ka naam toh kharaab hoga, aur kya? Mera kharaab hoga! ”

Also read: ‘Jagga Jasoos’ Role Axed? A Fuming Govinda Lashes out on Twitter

Rishi said that he felt that Jagga Jasoos should have been abridged by 20 minutes.

I would like to add here that I am grateful to Anurag for giving Ranbir a lovely film like Barfi! But why hide a film? All big filmmakers, including my father (Raj Kapoor), Rakesh Roshan and Aamir Khan show their films, so why can’t you?

Wonder how Basu is going to react to this, and if Ranbir would be game to take up the Kishore Kumar biopic post the Jagga debacle?

(Source: Mid-Day, Box Office India)

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