The Kishore Kumar condition

Director Anurag Basu will finally get to make a biopic on legendary singer Kishore  Kumar that he has been hankering to film for the past five years.

Initially, Ranbir Kapoor didn’t have his dates free in such a way that Kishore’s life could be shot chronologically. Now that it’s been sorted, the biopic, written by writer-director Somik Sen of Gulab Gang fame, has been waiting for approval, not just from his elder son, singer Amit Kumar, but also his younger son Sumeet Kumar and the late singer’s wife Leena Chandavarkar.

On the family’s behalf, Amit has made it explicitly clear to Basu that nothing would go into the film on his father without his consent, not even songs. Anurag has apparently agreed to let Amit exercise complete creative control over the project.

“Initially Anurag fought off Amit’s claims as far as he could. But then matters came to such a head that it was either Kishore  Kumar with Amit or no  Kishore  Kumar at all.  Anurag decided to drop the project at one point, rather than let Amit have the final say in the content. But now Anurag  has agreed to Amit’s conditions,” says a well-informed source.

Anurag will have to pay through his nose to buy rights for 30-35 Kishore Kumar songs from Sa Re Ga Ma (HMV). Out of these, the ones to be used in the film will be selected by Amit, Sumeet and Leena.

According to a source close to the development,  Anurag  and Ranbir are not happy with the pre-conditions imposed on the project. “But the choice was between making the film with pre-conditions or not making it at all. Both  Anurag  and Ranbir  decided  it’s better to realise their dream project even with someone breathing down their necks rather than giving up on the dream.”