July 9, 2010 (Sampurn Wire): Pasta is passé. Abbas Tyrewala compares his new film with Sushi. And thinks Hrithik’s pasta parallel for Kites was inapt. Last week director Abbas Tyrewala was spotted on the sets of Siddharth Anand’s Anjaana Anjaani in earnest discussion with choreographer Ahmed Khan who was shooting a club song with Ranbir and Priyanka.

While Ahmed was pleading his inability to choreograph the song, Abbas was insistent. The director needs to bring an element of identifiable glamour music and masti into his film. Piggy riding Anjaana Anjaani into a romantic mood seems a safe bet. Apparently Abbas is urgently in need of giving his untitled film a specific marketing spin. But the problem is, the love story in Abbas’ film has no reference point.

Says Abbas, “Forget a reference point. There’s no definite image or idea to create a sense of identification with the protagonists. I don’t have a title as yet. No my film is not called Call Me…Dil. In my first film Jaane Tu…Ya Jaane Na there was at least the youthful theme to create a marketing base. In my second film there’re a new leading lady who happens to be my wife and John who goes against his image and doesn’t take off his shirt even once. It’s a love story.

But the audiences have no way of relating to it because they haven’t seen anything like it”.

So would Abbas use Hrithik Roshan’s image from Kites and offer pasta to those who are used to biryani? Protests Abbas, “Not at all. Pasta like biryani is filling and sumptuous. How do I market a delicate piece like my film? It’s like trying to convince guests at a dinner joint to have sushi instead of biryani”. This is where Ahmed Khan’s choreography comes in.

Abbas Tyrewala wants to use Khan’s choreographic skills to create a sense of identification for his unconventional love story with the audience. Ahmed Khan apparently had no dates to spare. Now Abbas has persuaded the choreographer to shoot a song with John and Pakhi from July 14 to 16. Says Abbas,”It took some convincing. But we needed Ahmed’s dancing to generate that right amount of youthful pep and zest in the audiences’ mind”.

Abbas is counting on the far more conventional Anjaana Anjaani, which releases a fortnight before his film, to generate the right romantic ambience for the John-Pakhi film.

Says Abbas, “Let’s admit it. Any member of the audience would give anything to see Priyanka and Ranbir together. I’m hoping some of that audience would be there waiting to see John and Pakhi. We are counting on Anjaana Anjaani to create a romantic atmosphere for our film. Then maybe they’d accept sushi after biryani”.

– Subhash K Jha/Sampurn Wire