Mumbai: More often than not star-power plays a major role in driving Bollywood films to success but director Vivek Agnihotri says that working with stars is mainly out of compulsion and not by choice.
The filmmaker, who recently tasted success with his erotic thriller "Hate Story", said that convincing producers becomes a daunting task if a star is not attached to a film. "No director wants to make films with stars.
It is a compulsion for them. It is very difficult to convince producers about a script without having the backing of a star. People now-a-days need figures," Vivek told PTI.
The director, who is married to actress Pallavi Joshi, said that the success of "Hate Story" was surprising. "I knew 'Hate Story' would work.
I had expected a great opening but the fact that it has completed 50 days at the box office is an overwhelming feeling. There have been some great experinces regarding the film."
The director is also planning to make a sequel to "Hate Story" but did not divulge much details about the film as it is at a very initial stage. Vivek is currently making two films on socio-political issues - "Buddha in a Traffic Jam" on the Naxal issue, starring Anupam Kher, and the other film is a political thriller titled "Freedom".
"'Buddha' is my third film but I chose to release 'Hate Story' first because I wanted commercial success. While 'Buddha' is a hard hitting and controversial film and I wanted it to get its due and so decided to release it after 'Hate Story'," he said.
"Buddha in a Traffic Jam" stars Arunoday Singh, Mahi Gill, Pallavi Joshi and marks the debut of TV actress Anchal Dwivedi, who became a household name after playing Kaveri in 'Saat Phere'. "The theme of the film is how the youth of today are being brainwashed. The film tackles naxalism in a very different way. It has been shot primarily in a leading business school," Vivek said.
Actor R Madhavan was reportedly set to star in his other film "Freedom" but the director said that nothing has been finalised yet. "I have finalised the script of 'Freedom'. The script has undergone a massive change and it has now become bigger than before. I am yet to finalise the star cast. No one has been signed so far," he said.
Vivek is also planning to remake classic Hollywood film "12 Angry Men" in Hindi. Earlier Basu Chatterjee remade the film in 1986 titled "Ek Ruka Hua Faisla". It starred Deepak Qazir, Amitabh Srivastav, Pankaj Kapur, Hemant Mishra, Annu Kapoor among others.
"I planned to make the film three years ago in 2009. It is a film on the prejudice of democracy. I want to have the 12 best actors of Bollywood in the film. I did speak to Amitabh Bachchan, Naseer ji (Naseeruddin Shah), Om Puri, KK Menon, Atul Kulkarni, Paresh Rawal at that time. Everyone wants to be part of it. It will go on floors next year for sure," he said.
