Anurag Basu says 'script for Kishore Kumar biopic is ready'

Director Anurag Basu might have been on a low after the results of Jagga Jasoos (2017), but he still hopes to continue with his biopic on singer Kishore Kumar, with Ranbir Kapoor in the lead. In a recent interview to the newspaper Hindustan Times, Basu said, "So far, only Ranbir and I are confirmed."

The biopic on Kishore Kumar has been in the works for a couple of years, and Basu has finally admitted that the script for the film is complete. In the interview, the director said, "Though the script is ready, we can’t just announce that we’re doing the film. It needs to be fool proof... There are certain legalities. We need permission and input from people associated with Kishore Kumar and mentioned in the film. [Otherwise] during the making or after the film releases, many might raise objections."

In June earlier this year, Basu had said that there were legal issues being sorted out. The director also maintained that unless the film was being shot post 2018, Ranbir won't be a part of the project. He said, "The situation is dicey because if Ranbir says that ‘Dada I will do the film in 2019’ and Kishore Kumar’s family wants me to do it now, then we’ll have to work things out accordingly."

The failure of Jagga Jasoos was compounded by Rishi Kapoor's open and vitriolic criticism of the director. Rishi even called Basu 'irresponsible', leading to Ranbir having to defend the director.

However, as Basu adds, there is still time for the film to go into shooting mode. Ranbir is currently mid-way through the shooting process of Rajkumar Hirani's Sanjay Dutt biopic. It is speculated that the actor will start shooting for Ayan Mukherji's superhero film, Dragon, alongside Alia Bhatt after the schedule for Hirani's film ends.

The director also stated that the family of singer Kishore Kumar are helping him with details on the film. Basu said, "Sumit [Kumar; son], Amit [Kumar; son], Leena [Chandavarkar; former wife] ji, Ruma [Guha Thakurta; former wife] ji, everyone is helping me in every way possible. I’m thankful to the family for being supportive. They want me to do the film even after so much delay."