It may have been a while since Mahesh Bhatt last directed a film, but he's still a very busy man.
He's got a line of films in his kitty, all in various stages of production.
This week will see his wife Soni Razdan debut as director with Nazar, starring Pakistani actress Meera and Ashmit Patel.
rediff.com takes a sneak peek at his forthcoming movies.
Holiday
Holiday is Pooja (Bhatt)'s brainchild. She has always wanted to make a young dance film. It deals with a teenage girl's life -- the peer pressure and the need to feel worthy. These are the issues that bother a woman's heart at that age.
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Fifty percent of the Indian population is under 30 years of age, and Holiday deals with their problems. But it's a happy film.
Dino Morea, newcomer Muskaan, Kashmira Shah and Gulshan Grover star in this film. It is shot in Goa. We expect the filming to be completed by July. It will release sometime in December.
Blue Film
Porn industry is a multi-billion dollar industry. A new menace has been added to that called cyber porn. Desi porn is now a rage.
The story of this film is how the porn industry uses the lives of innocent people to run this multi-billion dollar industry. Off late, you have heard how web cams have been fitted in hotels. Honeymooners get caught in this scam and we have read about
Blue Film is about a newly married couple; about how they become fodder for the porn industry and how their lives get destroyed. That is the basic theme of the film. Take the Anara Gupta case in Jammu. How it destroyed her life forever.
The story then portrays how the affected individuals try to settle scores.
Deepal Shaw plays a withering porn star in the film. You know, porn stars have very tragic lives. They burn out very soon. The hero (Kunal Khemu) uses this woman to enter the porn business. At first, he sees her as an enemy. But when he gets close to her, he realises that she is actually a victim. He realises that the only way to take on these guys is to be one of them.
The Indian Diaspora that runs respectable IT businesses and temples is involved in this racket. The porn business is like any other business. In the US, it is funded and supported by companies listed on stock exchange! Even George Bush cannot demolish this industry.
Show Business
This is on the lines of the Indian Idol talent hunt. It is about the life of an ordinary Indian after he becomes a celebrity -- how his life becomes a revenue stream for consumer goods manufacturers.
People want to put their products on him and the media also wants to invade his piracy. The villain of this film is the media -- how they use this innocent man to enhance their TRPs and newspaper circulation. TRP and circulation are what propels the media today. Not idealism and cause.
Through all this, this man is supported by his girlfriend. Emraan Hashmi will play the lead. I am on the lookout for a new girl.
Actress
This is about the dark side of the film industry -- the deglamorous life of entertainers. The story deals with life in the fast lane, drugs, relationships, suicides, burnout and a catastrophic end.
Mohit Suri (of Zeher fame) will direct this film. I have not finalised the cast yet.
Gangster
This film is inspired by Abu Salem and Monica Bedi.
But let me it clear that this is not their biography. It deals with a gangster on the run. But he cannot be separated from his beloved despite the fact that the world police is chasing him.
I've seen that in such situations, a girl can be excess baggage to the gangster. But he is still unwilling to part with her. So I have made a fictitious love story. The most interesting part of the story is that the gangster is not after lust but after love. To fulfill his lust, he could have gone anywhere but he prefers to be with this woman whom he loves.
Normally, we don't attribute love to gangsters. We think they cannot love the other person but that is not true. You know, Nazi generals used to put Jews in gas chambers and come back home and listen to Beethoven and teach their children poetry. So I feel human nature is paradoxical. I am really inspired by this situation.
Sanjay Dutt and Shoaib Akhtar were offered the role, but both have refused.
