Amitabh’s movie Alladin is stuck

Sujoy Ghosh's Aladdin is stuck... for the time-being

Amitabh's movie Alladin is stuck

Sujoy Ghosh's Aladdin is stuck... for the time-being

B-Town buzz is that like its subject, Sujoy Ghosh's Aladdin is proving to be a fantasy. The flick is on hold at least for now though there's talk that the film might see the light of day in mid-2009.

The long-in-the-making film has had its share of setbacks that include both production as well as cast issues.

A modern-day version of the Arabian Nights, the film stars Amitabh Bachchan (as the genie), Sanjay Dutt (as a ring master) and Riteish Deshmukh in the title role. former Miss Sri Lanka Jacqueline Fernandez makes her film debut.

Drona ke wajah se?

Says a source, "Aladdin producers Eros suffered a huge jolt with the debacle of Goldie Behl's Drona and they still have to recover from it. As Aladdin is also a big budget flick with plenty of high-end special effects, it will take time to pool in the required resources."

Due to Dutt?

Adds the source, "A 20-day schedule with Sanjay Dutt was stretched to 40 days as the actor would shoot only for three-four hours a day due to his other pursuits. As a result, the shoot schedules had to be unnecessarily prolonged."

Ghosh, who earlier directed Home Delivery and Jhankaar Beats maintains, "At the moment, we are in post production. Earlier this month, we had a song shoot with Amitabh Bachchan.

This was the only bit remaining. Aladdin is family fare and so, has to release either during the summer/ winter vacations or sometime around Diwali."

The director adds that as he has time on hand and is not doing any other project, he is constantly fine-tuning Aladdin. "I've been working on this project since 2005.

So the least I could do is time its release properly otherwise it is all up to the audience."

Bachchan's to blame?

Buzz is that Big B's illness last year had also made him unable to shoot for Aladdin causing further delay. Ghosh claims that the film was not delayed due to the stars.

"It is b***s**t to say that the film was delayed due to Mr Bachchan's illness. It was not so; as far asu00a0 Duttsaab is concerned, he'd shoot with me till 10 and 11 pm.
u00a0
Nor are there any problems on the Eros front."

He admits, however, that the film was slated for a Christmas release "but when we realised that there was another big project (Ghajini) releasing on the same date, it would make better sense to avoid a clash."

Incidentally, Aladdin was initially be produced by the Sippys who walked out on Ghosh. Now that the Sippy produced project Chandni Chowk To China has bombed, does he feel vindicated? "To each his own," says Ghosh.

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