Mumbai Meri Jaan Director Does a Somersault with John Abraham

By Subhash K Jha, After making the gritty and glorious Mumbai Meri Jaan you would expect the ultra-shy self-effacing quietly-brilliant Nishikant Kamat to go deeper into the same realistic terrorism territory.

But Nishikant has had his fill of terrorism. You can’t blame him. 2008 saw a surfeit of films on terrorism, the good bad and the overrated.

Nishikant has had his say on the topic. Troubled by the politics of his creativity and some personal crises Nishikant now wants to have fun with his art.

Currently traveling to various international festivals with Mumbai Meri Jaan (it was screened at the Riverside International Film Festival in the third week of April along with Ghajini and Delhi 6) Nishikant is scripting an out-and-out escapist entertainer with full-on masala action-adventure.

And Nishikant has roped in John Abraham to play the lead.

Says the shy director, “Yes, what you’ve heard is true. I’ve had my share of realism for now. My first film Dombivli Fast (in Marathi), its Tamil remake (featuring Madhavan) and Mumbai Meri Jaan all went into the realistic topical creative space. I now want to try my hand at an escapist entertainer. It’s a challenge. Because it’s very difficult to do the incredible in a credible manner.”

Nishikant is also committed to do a Hindi version of Dombivli Fast for producers Abbas-Mustan. “But that’s not my priority of creativi frame of mind right now,” he confesses.

John who is a big fan of Nishikant’s Mumbai Meri Jaan was instrumental in convincing his favourite production house UTV to take on the project.

Interestingly UTV has had a major fall-out with Neeraj Pandey whose Wednesday last year was invariably compared with Nishikant Kamat’s Mumbai Meri Jaan (also produced by UTV)
While refusing to comment on the project with Nishikant Kamat John feels there were four awards-worthy performances in Mumbai Meri Jaan by male actors. “I’m talking about Paresh Rawal, K. K Menon, Madhavan and Irrfan Khan. What performances, man! I’d hope to equal that level of acting in my work.”

John, who has been labeled Bollywood’s favourite pinup actor after Dostana, is craving to go beyond the body. “The body-beautiful bracket is not a bad place to be in. But I’d also like to be recognized as a capable actor now.”

No wonder he has been lately seen shopping for roles in films by avant garde directors like Anurag Kashyap, Nagesh Kukunooor and now Nishikant Kamat.