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Time and tide wait for no man

SRK was also very keen to work with Ramu and thought to himself that as Ramu’s business is down he would put in all his talent and energy to make a brilliant film with full concentration on SRK. Both were excited. The intense discussions began on the script and film.

Ramu was finally going to direct SRK and the actor had finally found himself a director outside of his favourites. A different approach to film making was about to be witnessed.The scene was set.

Suddenly overnight Shah Rukh and Time Machine were forgotten and dumped! After all, Ramu had got Mr. Bachchan to do Nishabd with him. His wish had come true. Bachchan was to be his star.

So RGV dropped SRK like a hot potato for AB and Nishabd. Says Ramu, “I did not just drop him in a second like you put it. I did give it some thought and finally saw no reason to go ahead with the Shah Rukh Khan project. His youthful and exuberant image just didn’t go with the dark brooding intensity of the cinema that I believe in. So I decided to put Time Machine aside and work on a more exciting project like Nishabd.”

What was it about SRK that made you change your mind? “I wasn’t comfortable with the idea of directing Shah Rukh. He is so predictable. It is senseless investing my time into a project where my heart is not. Besides, when you think superstar, you think Amitabh Bachchan, not Shah Rukh Khan. I have grown up on Mr. Bachchan’s films; he’s the stuff legends are made of. I have not grown up on Shah Rukh Khan’s films. I'm very fond of Shah Rukh. As a person I respect him tremendously. But I feel I'm incapable of doing justice to his image. There's a tremendous difference of sensibility in the cinema that Shah Rukh generally does and I make. I know he has a staggering fan-following among children and women who love those kinds of sugary romances. I would be a total mismatch with Shah Rukh. He's a very intelligent man. But as an actor Shah Rukh is someone I cannot connect with. I am not saying he can't act. But he's expected to be projected in a certain way. I'd have been doing disservice to him and me if I went ahead with our project. Whatever I've made so far —good, bad or ugly —I've always made films from my heart. And I've had great fun making each of my films. Time Machine didn't feel like fun. It felt like work.”

The dumping of SRK for AB at that time had set off the SRK and AB rivalry to greater heights. But if SRK was mad at Ramu he decided to treat it lightly, “If you know Ramu, you will know that he talks for effect. He doesn’t mean to be nasty. Most actors, including yours truly, say many things for effect.”

So Time Machine was totally scrapped? “Yes, with me as a director it is scrapped,” Ramu had confirmed.

Naturally it came as a shock to all when Ramu announced Time Machine with Abhishek replacing SRK in the same film. Says Ramu, “Yes, both Amitabh and Abhishek will star in the film. I haven’t decided on the date of shooting yet, since I am pre-occupied with Ramgopal Varma Ki Aag, Darling and Sarkar Raj at the moment. It’s unfortunate that I couldn’t make the film with Shah Rukh."

It was during the shooting of Sarkar Raj in Hyderabad that Ramu narrated the sript to the Bachchans. Abhishek loved the role and roped in dad and wife for the film. Aishwarya will now play the role that was offered to Kareena Kapoor opposite SRK. Sad, because Kareena had opted out of Harry Baweja’s film to accommodate Ram Gopal Verma.

Says a trade insider, “Ramu is totally obsessed with the Bachchan family. And Amitabh is out to make sure that son Abhishek gets every plum role possible. This is an industry of survival of the fittest so the war between the SRK camp and the Bachchans will continue. We just have to wait and watch the tamasha.”