I have a question for producer Boney Kapoor. If his film It’s My Life which began shooting in 2008 was to release in theatres today, how many people would go and see it? The film has been rotting in the cans for the last 12 years.
So what gives? Why this monstrously belated television premiere for a film that everyone has forgotten? Some years ago director Anees Bazmi told me, “It’s My Life was a fresh subject when we started it. Harman Baweja had just been introduced to cinema. Genelia had played the same role in the Telugu original Bommarrillu and we had signed Nana Patekar to play Harman’s domineering father, the role originally played by Prakash Raj. We also had Kapil Sharma being introduced to cinema as the family servant. It looked promising when we started making it. But then time passed, everyone moved on.”
The film stars, hold your breath, Harman Baweja who hasn’t done a film for decades, and Genelia d’Souza who retired years ago and is now happily married with two children.So a has-been leading lady and a never-been leading man…perfect ! Add to this brackish brew Nana Patekar who has been banished from cinema for reasons that we won’t go into right now. What was Boney Kapoor thinking while selling off this wash-out to Zee Cinema?
Says Boney, “The film was made with the thought of highlighting unadulterated family equations and complexities, a genre that most of us enjoy, including me. The movie beautifully showcases the relationship dynamics between a father and son from the time the child is born to becoming an adult and taking up responsibility. It brings about such strong, heartwarming and relatable emotions that will surely strike a chord with the viewers. Television has always been a great way to reach out to a wide set of audience and we are glad to share our movie for the first time ever with the viewers. Hope the viewers enjoy the movie along with their family at their comforts of their homes.”
The idea that audiences at home will accept anything including a 12-year old film being passed off as a new product ,is dangerously erroneous. Sitting at home, audiences lets producers know what it likes. And being taken for granted is not one of their likes.