We Definitely Want To Make Raajneeti 2: UTV’s Siddharth Roy Kapur

Is there a lot of activity on the UTV front in 2012?
Yes, there is a lot going on. Actually, we have got an average of a release a month – we have some very exciting movies lined up, starting with Ek Main Aur Ekk Tu, followed by Rowdy Rathore, Tere Naal Love Ho Gaya, Barfi!, Heroine, Race 2. So it is going to be a really nice and busy year.

You have both, big and small films, slated for release in this year. It’s a mixed bag.
Yes. From Love Shuv Tey Chicken Khurana, which is very interesting, small and quirky film that we are doing with Anurag Kashyap all the way to Rowdy Rathore, Race 2, Barfi!, Joker and Heroine. These are all different films in their own right, belonging to different genres, with varied star casts, diverse budgets and different banners… we have tried to mix it up.

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What is the exact role of UTV in all these films?
We are either the producers or co-producers in all these films.

Has UTV completely stopped acquisitions and stopped buying distribution rights of other productions?
In this business you should never say never but our focus is more on our productions and co-productions. However, if there are entities with whom we have close associations and whose creative instincts we trust a lot, then we would consider working with them on non-production basis, but such instances will be few and far between.

Till recently, Agneepath was counted on your slate and then suddenly Agneepath was acquired by Anil Thadani. Why so if UTV has the worldwide distribution network in place?
Actually, Anil Thadani has acquired the rights of Agneepath from us. Dharma Productions had sold rights to us and we sold it to Anil.

What was the cause of this trading?
There is no harm in getting someone involved who shares a good comfort level with us. Anil is someone we all wanted to be involved in the film and so we did.

We definitely want to make Raajneeti 2

How many sequels are you doing apart from Race 2?
We are considering a sequel to Raajneeti. It may start this year or next year, but it depends on dates of the actors. The actors are excited about it but right now it is just an idea in our and (writer-director) Prakash Jha’s mind. But we definitely want to make Raajneeti 2.

Tell us the three films of 2012 from which you have great hopes.
It is very tough to say Komal and you will be putting me in the spot so I will start by telling you about all our films. We have Got EK Main Aur Ekk Tu then Tere Naal Love Ho Gaya, both in February.

We then have Love Shuv Tey Chicken Khurana in May, Rowdy Rathore in June, Barfi! in July and Joker in August; then Heroine in September and Race 2 in Oct-November. There is reason why each of these films were made. Picking three out of them will be very tough.

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Komal Nahta, the Editor of Koimoi.com, is Bollywood’s most trusted trade analyst & film reviewer. You can follow him on Twitter and check out his Video Blog.