The love story might be the Bollywood staple, but the industry seems to have found a new genre it hopes to cash in on — detective stories.
How else would you explain multiple such projects, all scheduled for next year? The list includes Anurag Basu’s Jagga Jasoos with Ranbir Kapoor (their first co-production), Dibakar Banerjee’s Detective Byomkesh Bakshy, the Vidya Balan-starrer Bobby Jasoos, the Rajeev Khandelwal-starrer Samrat & Co., and Mr Joe B Carvahlo with Arshad Warsi.
The best way to beat the competition is to be the first one to do something. And, it seems, that is precisely what Ranbir intends to do. The shoot deadline for his film has apparently been advanced, and it will now be shot in a start-to-finish schedule (a rarity for a film with big stars) from October to February 2014.
Jagga Jasoos also features Katrina Kaif.
Sources claim that the initial plan was to start the film next year. When contacted, Anurag says, "Yes, we will finish almost the entire shoot by that time (February)." He adds that they want to wrap up the shoot in one go only because "Ranbir’s dates are available".
However, in spite of Anurag’s claims, the dates for another Ranbir-starrer, Roy (to be directed by his childhood friend, Vikramjit Singh) seem to have been affected. Scheduled to start in December, it has now been pushed to February. Bhushan Kumar, producer for Roy, says, 'Ranbir will now shoot with us from February. He is also shooting for other films."
The biggest competition to Ranbir-Anurag’s film might come from the Sushant Singh Rajput-starrer DBB and Vidya’s movie. However, Basu disagrees, saying, 'If I were thinking of such things, I wouldn’t have taken the film up at all… And it’s not as if the film will be ready for release immediately after the shoot.' Detective Byomkesh Bakshy is slated for a December 2014 release and Bobby Jasoos, for the second half of 2014.
The makers of Jagga Jasoos are yet to finalise a release date.