Thaindian News

By Subhash K. Jha
Mumbai, Jan 1 (IANS) Director Abbas Tyrewala, also a writer of great repute having written among other things the dialogues of “Munnabhai M.B.B.S.” and the screenplay of “Maqbool”, is not happy with “Rocket Singh…”. After watching the movie, he says he knows how to end his hero’s journey in his next directorial venture.

Tyrewala’s forthcoming film is “1-800-Love” that stars John Abraham and his wife Pakhi in lead roles.

“I want my hero to either win or die at the end. Not a hero whose fight for the right simply peters out to a dead end,” Tyrewwala told IANS.

“I now know exactly how my hero’s journey should end. I’m an old-fashioned storyteller. And we’ve at heart a very traditional audience. They want to see the hero triumph at the end, not walk away from the villain as he makes an apology speech,” he added.

Tyrewala went to see the latest Yash Raj Films production “Rocket Singh - Salesman Of The Year” not only as a writer and director but also as an eager fan of the films that the banner comes out with.

“I love Jaideep Sahni’s writing and Shimit Amin’s direction. But what were they thinking while doing ‘Rocket Singh’? Where is the payoff in the screenplay? Where is the hero? Ranbir plays a timid Sardar who steals phone lines and computer hardware from his work-place to start his own business.

“And we are supposed to accept him as a man of integrity! Would he be able to start his own business if it wasn’t for the nefarious support he gets from his work place? In other words, the ‘hero’ resorts to those very underhand tactics that he claims to abhor and takes the help of that very organisation which has disgraced him,” he said.

Most damaging of all, Tyrewala couldn’t see a hero in Ranbir’s character.

“The boss (Manish Chowdhary) is so over-the-top. He belongs to another sensibility altogether, calls Ranbir a ‘bastard’ several times, humiliates and disgraces him publicly. We wait for our hero to have his revenge on the boorish boss.

“I completely believe in the old-fashioned Hindi film formula where the hero gives his tormentor tit for tat. But Boss, where’s the comeuppance for the villain? In fact, the story comes across more as the boss’ redemption story than the hero’s.”