Rajneesh Duggal who is only one film old seems to already have a career that is shining brightly in the horizon. The actor who was introduced in Vikram Bhatt’s 1920 impressed both audiences and critics thoroughly and more so impressed his director Vikram Bhatt. So much so, that he is now repeating him and his co-star of 1920 Adah Sharma in his next venture Phhirr. However, that’s not where Vikram Bhatt’s stops in flaunting his latest find. The director who’s known to contribute quite interesting ventures to the industry is now all set to produce a Khalid Mohammad venture.
Khalid Mohammad himself is the focus of this venture as the film is an autobiographical venture titled Rutbaa. In particular the film is to focus on his relationship with his extrovert half brother, to be essayed by TV actor Viput Gupta, who was quite opposite to Khalid who was more of shy, book worm or introvert he says.
Speaking to Mid-Day lead Rajneesh Duggal explained how the venture came into existence. “I received a call from Khalid Sir asking me to hear the script. It is based on his life and I will be playing him in the film.”
Of course its natural to rush to the main source himself and in this case that’s Khalid Mohammad but the critic turned writer/director didn’t reveal much about the film as his policy dictates not to speak much about a project until it takes off. However, he did say that the script for Rutbaa has been in existence for a while now and is not a recent or overnight development. As for his choice of Rajnesh for the lead role, well incidentally the director has been wanting to work with the new comer for a while now as he initially approached him for Silsiley however due to other commitments Rajneesh couldn’t join in the project at the time.
2005 was the last time we saw something from Khalid Mohammad in the form of Silsiley. Prior to Silsiley we’ve acknowledged his work extensively in films like Karishma and Hrithik starrer Fiza and Urmila Matondkar and Shabana Azmi starrer Tehzeeb, both of which were directed by him. In addition, when it comes to autobiographical pieces Khalid Mohammad can be considered to be quite an expert having written three of them in his career including the highly critically acclaimed Shyam Benegal venture Zubeidaa.
Just what the creatively driven and innovative writer/director brings on screen this time we simply cannot imagine but looks like imagining is just what we’ll have to do until more info is released on this highly anticipated project! Stayed tuned to Bollyspice and we’ll surely keep you updated on everything Rutbaa!
