The directors who got kicked out
Some years ago, Nagesh Kukunoor made a film called Bollywood Calling. It was a spoof on Bollywood and its strange ways. In one of the scenes of this film, the superstar (Navin Nishchol) sacks his director in the middle of the night and hands over the reigns of his film to the financer (Om Puri). His explanation? "When you have a star on the sets, the director only has to follow orders".
Funny as it may sound, the practice of replacing directors once a film is on the floors is not alien to Bollywood. The most abused reason is "creative differences". Producers (most often actor-turned-producers), blame it on the director's inability to translate their vision on screen.
Except for those rare cases when a director steps in to wrap up a dead filmmaker's unfinished project, it is generally an ego clash that leads to the director getting replaced.
When stars call the shots:
The most recent example is of Aamir Khan's home production Delhi Belly. Originally planned in Hindi, the Ranbir Kapoor film was supposed to be directed by a Swedish filmmaker Robert Nylund. But a few days ago Khan revealed to the media that ad man Abhinay Deo would be making the film.
What's more, it will now be in English. According to IANS, Khan could not agree with Robert's vision, which most likely means, Robert wasn't allowing Bollywood's newest director to call the shots on his sets.
Aamir who is known to ghost direct his films did a similar thing in Taare Zameen Par. Two days into the shooting, the film's writer-director Amole Gupte was shown the door and Aamir took charge. The results were of course fabulous so Gupte had no case. He had to be content with the title of 'creative director' and wait for his next big break. Gupte went on record saying, "He was demoted from being a mother to a nanny".
NEXT PAGE: Aamir is not the only one firing directors | MUST WATCH: Amole Gupte walks out of an interview
