Budget blues: Yash Raj tells Kabir Khan to drop epic film

The budget crunch has eaten into one of the biggest production houses in the entertainment industry. According to well-placed sources close to Yash Raj Films, the banner which had till recently a reputation for an unbroken string of hits has now after setbacks like Dil Bole Hadippa, Rocket Singh Salesman Of The Year and Pyaar Impossible instructed its roster of directors to shoot within reasonable budgets.

And financially impractical projects are a strict no-no. This, Kabir Khan discovered when after New York he decided to make a lavish big-budget epic. Initially, Aditya Chopra the Yash Raj scion was enthusiastic about the novel idea and gave Kabir a cart-blanche...

But as the script evolved it became clear to the producers that Kabir Khan's epic would be one of the most expensive films in the history of Yash Raj.

Aditya Chopra sat Kabir down for a meeting and calmly told him the epic project was not working.

Admits Kabir, "Yes I've abandoned my earlier script. This was a subject I had with me from even before I made my first feature film Kabul Express. You can say it's my dream project. And my dream is now on hold."

Kabir confirms that Aditya Chopra asked him to work on another more financially feasible subject. "After working on the earlier script for several months, I'm writing a new script. It's more of a fun film than New York. It is definitely not about global terrorism this time. I've said whatever I have had to on that subject. But a socio-political undercurrent can't be too far away from what I do."

As for Kabir's dream project, he hasn't given up on it. "That's the film I became a feature-director for. I won't give it up."

(Bollywood Hungama)