NEW DELHI – In a career that has been pretty much on and off since her ‘Hazaron Khawaishen Aisi’ days, Chitrangda took a bold step of working in a film that defied stereotypes.
The movie in question was ‘Sorry Bhai’ which released exactly two years ago and though not many saw the film, the fact remains that this Onir directed film was way ahead of its times, especially for Bollywood audience.
However, one may well be seeing the film in a different avatar in 2011 when Katrina Kaif’s ‘Mere Brother Ki Dulhan’ arrives in theatres. Reason being that it is difficult to ignore the similarity of the film’s basic plot – that of Imran Khan falling in love with his brother’s (Ali Zafar of ‘Tere Bin Laden’ fame) dulhan (Katrina Kaif).
A film observer says, “It is surprising that the makers of ‘Mere Brother Ki Dulhan’ have actually released the synopsis so early when the film would release only in mid-2011. Were they led to believe that audience won’t be able to catch the similarities with ‘Sorry Bhai’?” There is some defense that comes the film’s way though.
Many believe that since ‘Mere Brother Ki Dulhan’ comes from the house of Yash Raj Films, its vibrant treatment would make all the difference. “While one waits to see how different is the basic storyline of ‘Mere Brother Ki Dulhan’ from ‘Sorry Bhai’, the fact remains that Yash Raj would be looking at the film entirely differently from how Onir did.
They come with different sensibilities altogether”, he adds, “While Yash Raj would be aiming at young and family audience, Onir’s film had a few shocking elements that resulted in ‘Sorry Bhai’ coming across as a rather bold film. One of such sequences was a risque love making scene that was shot between Chitrangda and Sharman in a changing room of a lifestyle store.”
No wonder, Katrina is rather casual around the entire comparison and laughs it all away. If she is to be believed, ‘Mere Brother Ki Dulhan’ is indeed going to be a joyous ride for not just the three principal protagonists in the film but also the audience.
“Come on now, if we think like that then almost all films are the same. There are hardly any similarities here between the two films. You can take my word for that”, says Katrina who had some good fun shooting for the film up North of India with her newest co-star Imran Khan, “This is a very high energy whacky fun film.”
Onir too isn’t making much hue and cry around the ‘inspiration’. “I really loved the subject of a woman making a choice of moving away from one brother to another and hence made ‘Sorry Bhai'”, says Onir, “The film suffered due to the fact that it had released in the weekend (28th November 2008) when the world was glued to the tragedy of 26/11.
It just didn’t find the audience that it deserved. If at all there are any similarities now, I would want to see how the makers of ‘Mere Brother Ki Dulhan’ bring it closer to universal audience. I want to see how edgy does it eventually get.” Well, we are waiting for that as well Onir.
