Stories of Anurag Basu directing a Kishore Kumar biopic with Aamir Khan in the lead are absolutely false and misleading.
Basu’s attempts to film Kishore Kumar’s life date back to 2013 when, after Barfi, the director wanted to make two back-to-back biopics on mathematician Anand Kumar and singer-actor Kishore Kumar with Ranbir Kapoor in the lead – neither fructified. The Anand Kumar biopic was eventually made by Vikas Bahl, with Hrithik Roshan as the lead.
As for the Kishore Kumar film, it remains stuck in the middle of nowhere. Kishore Kumar’s family has the rights to the biopic. His son Amit Kumar has declared repeatedly that the family would make the film on Kishore Kumar. So far, nothing has happened.
“They won’t do it themselves, and they won’t let anyone else do it. Anurag Basu spent five years trying to convince Kishore Kumar’s family. Finally, he gave up. If he ever makes the Kishore Kumar biopic, it will be with Ranbir only. But that is not possible. Yeh Aamir kahan se beech mein aa gaye?”, a source close to Basu shares with this writer.
At one time Ranbir was so keen on playing Kishore Kumar that he turned down around seven other biopics, including those on sharpshooter Abhinav Bindra and astronaut Rakesh Sharma and vowed he would not play any real-life character except Kishore Kumar. Ranbir eventually played Sanjay Dutt in Raju Hirani’s Sanju.
