After Yuvvraaj fiasco, Subhash Ghai turns to comedy

New Delhi, May 5 (IANS) After his last directorial venture “Yuvvraaj” failed at the box office, Subhash Ghai is now set for his first production of the year “Paying Guest”, which he says is based on a humorous play that ran for two years in the US, Britain and the UAE.

“‘Paying Guest’ is an out-and-out comedy based on a play of the same name and directed by Paritosh Painter. It ran for two years in the US, UK and UAE. Now the movie too is being directed by the director of the play,” Ghai told IANS in an e-mail interview.

“Paritosh has done an equally good job as the director of the film. It will sure be a blockbuster, something I can predict at this moment,” the filmmaker said.

The multi-starrer revolves around five close friends who stay together in Dubai and is set to hit screens next month.

“In a comedy film like this, you really need genuinely talented actors rather than only a star who has a sale value. So we decided on Shreyas (Talpade), Javed Jaffery, Ashish Chowdhary, Celina (Jaitley), Neha Dhupia and so on,” he said.

So does he feel comedy is the flavour of the season?

“I completely feel that comedy is the flavour of the season. Today stress levels are so high that people like comedy, even mindless comedies if it’s entertaining,” said Ghai.

“Nowadays, people don’t have time to appreciate your poetry or cinema unless you compel them to go and watch it, but that’s a tough proposition for a filmmaker today,” he added.

Ghai, whose production house Mukta Arts Pvt Ltd has produced successful films like “Aitraaz” and “Iqbal” among others, says his banner believes in churning out films of all budgets and genres.

“My company is a major movie production company in Mumbai for which I direct one film and we produce three to four films a year with various directors and all kinds of budgets and genres.

“For example, we produced ‘Aitraaz’, ‘36 China Town’ and ‘Yuvvraaj’ with big budgets and ‘Iqbal, ‘Apna Sapna Money Money’ and ‘Black and White’ as small budget movies,” said Ghai.

The director-producer has himself directed hugely popular films like “Karz”, “Hero”, “Karma”, “Saudagar”, “Pardes” and “Taal”.

Ghai has planned five more productions this year including “Right Yaa Wrong”, “Hello Darling” and three new projects to be launched soon.

Asked about the ongoing tussle between the producers and multiplexes over sharing of revenue, Ghai said the root of the problem is that both the sides are not considering the other’s grievances.

“It’s a tussle of business interests. Both are right with their grievances but not ready to consider the other’s point of view. I think producers asking for 50 percent, 40 percent and 35 percent in first three weeks respectively is a fair demand whereas in the fourth week it should be re-negotiable as per the merit of the film.