A modern twist on a classic tale

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Guess the travelling team on a promotional tour for the upcoming Priyanka Chopra and Southern sensation Ram Charan Teja-starrer Zanjeer, took Oscar Wilde’s words, “I am always late on principle, my principle being that punctuality is the thief of time,” a bit too seriously. First they reached the venue for a press conference at the Imperial hotel almost three hours late and then tried to pacify the miffed media with a nonchalant apology, “there has been a miscommunication regarding the timing of the event”.
Anyway as PeeCee, Ram and director Apoorva Lakhia settled for questions, when asked why it took so long for the film to hit theatres, was it the legal dispute on the copyright of 1973 blockbuster Zanjeer, Lakhia quickly answered, “The Bombay High Court has given us a go ahead and it’s finally releasing on September 6. It took time because we were shooting for both Zanjeer and Thoofan, the Telugu version of Zanjeer simultaneously and the shoot itself took about a year.”
Would it be right to call the 2013 Zanjeer a remake of the film by the same name? “No. It’s not a remake. We have contemporised the script. The story has undergone some key changes. The characters are modern and upbeat and the villains very different,” says Lakhia.
Seconds Chopra, “Zanjeer can’t be remade. Nobody can remake the classic. It’s Apoorva’s reimagined version of the original film.”
Male actors from South don’t seem to have it easy in Bollywood, but in recent times, the success of Raanjhanaa and Dhanush’s soaring popularity, and the critical acclaim for Prithviraj for his Bollywood innings, is heralding a brighter future for Southern actors aspiring to make it big in the Hindi film industry. “It’s true. I have huge expectations from Zanjeer. The response to Raanjhanaa has been very encouraging. It shows that people are accepting actors from South,” says Ram, who consulted his dad, veteran actor Chiranjeevi, before he came aboard.
He adds, “My dad is a huge Amitabh Bachchan fan. When he got to know that I was approached for Mr Bachchan’s role, he was jealous that he didn’t get to do this film. But he told me I would be missing out on a good script if I said no to it. So I had to be part of this project.”
Was he apprehensive reenacting the iconic role played by Mr Bachchan? “Nobody can be Mr Bachchan. I didn’t think I was going to play Mr Bachchan. I took it as any other role. Had I thought otherwise, I could never have attempted the role,” he explains.
Chopra, who plays a Gujarati girl from New York in the film, didn’t know Ram before they worked on the sets of Zanjeer. “I was not aware of his popularity until we visited Hyderabad for Thoofan’s shoot. Wherever we went, there would be around 300 fans following us. He is a superstar there and I wish him to have the same success in Bollywood,” she says.
Interestingly, for the Chopra cousins — Priyanka and Parineeti, Zanjeer and Shuddh Desi Romance are releasing on the same day. While one is going to be an action-packed drama, the other is an exciting take on modern day relationships with a promising starcast. But the Exotic singer feels both the films will have their audience.
“It’s a coincidence but I would like to call it a ‘Chopra weekend’ and expect the audience to bestow equal love to both the films,” says the actor, who is working hard to fit in boxer Mary Kom’s shoes for a biopic on the sports star from Manipur.