“I would want sequel of Singh is Kinng to do much better” – Anees Bazmee

May 5, 2010 - 11:36 AM IST

When Singh Is Kinng was approaching it's release date, there was a definite buzz in the air that this Akshay Kumar starrer would be seeing a sequel soon after. However, immediately after the release (and success) of Singh Is Kinng, there were murmurs that all was not well between the film's producer Vipul Shah and director Anees Bazmee.

“I would want sequel of Singh is Kinng to do much better” – Anees Bazmee

Both being established filmmakers in their own right, they had their own take on affairs as far as visibility and popularity post the film's release was concerned. It was said that ego issues had cropped up between the two men and though on the face value they didn't quite (thankfully) wash the dirty linen in public, there certainly were rumours about tension brewing between the two.

Meanwhile, everyone associated with Singh Is Kinng moved on with their respective projects in months to come. While the idea for the sequel never died down, there was no concrete progress being made. In fact it was also being said that there was no real work being done on even the scripting of the sequel and the much cherished project, which was bound to be accepted with open arms by the audience, had taken a firm backseat.

As Vipul Shah got busy with London Dreams, Akshay Kumar moved on to his half a dozen other projects and Anees Bazmee too kick started work on No Problem. This led to speculation that Singh Is Kinng 2 was going to be the story of the past. Now this was quite disheartening for audience as well as industry because in a recession hit situation where a safe project is hard to come by, revival of Singh Is Kinng series could well have been a huge shot in the arm.

When questioned if there was any progress being made on the sequel, Anees Bazmee confirms that no one has approached him to yet to direct the sequel. However, in his heart he is sure that he just needs an indication and he would be all game to begin work on the film.

"Would I love to direct the sequel? Oh, of course yes. After all these were the characters thought by me and I am very attached to them. There could be so many ways to take these characters forward", continues Anees for whom Singh Is Kinng stays on to be one of his three biggest blockbusters other than Welcome and No Entry.

Since Anees has his bag full currently, what if Vipul goes ahead and either directs the film himself or rope in some other director? Won't it be a setback of sorts for him since it is basically his own baby that would be handed over to someone else?

"You can be attached to a film but not to this extent that you can't see someone else taking care of it", Anees doesn't allow any hint of emotion coming on his face, "I won't feel bad if he or someone else directs the film. Its okay, one moves on. Yeh meri jageer thodi hi hai ki main usse apna maan ke jaane hi naa doon!"

By this time around one can well sense that Anees Bazmee is trying hard to camouflage his emotions. Though he is keeping a tough stand on the exterior, one can sense that he does carry a soft corner for the film. This is the reason why he only wishes the film good luck rather being nonchalant about it.

"No, I won't say that I have nothing to do with the film because the fact is that I have a lot to do with it. So even if someone else directs the film, my best wishes would be with him. Let me state this from the bottom of my heart that I would actually want the sequel to do much better business than the first in the series and turn out to be a much bigger hit", says Anees with a smile.

Extending on his logic behind allowing himself to disconnect from the film, Anees says, "See, the matter of the fact is that I got my money for making Singh Is Kinng. That was my job as a writer-director and I gave my all to ensure that I justify decision of the producer to have roped me in. As a producer, Vipulji is great. Main dil se dua karoonga ki picture chale because kahin na kahin mera naam bhi film ke saath juda hua hai.