A year after the release of the ill-received Delhi-6, director Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra is set to release the film with a new tragic ending.
The film was originally planned with Abhishek Bachchan’s character’s death at the end. Mehra, apparently with considerable pressure from his producer, UTV, decided to alter the ending to a happy one. Incidentally, Abhishek had strongly advised his director-friend against the ending.
A member of the cast says, “Abhishek and Rakeysh had many arguments on the subject. The producers felt that audiences will react adversely to Abhishek’s character dying. Although Rakeysh was unhappy with it, he shot the alternate ending.”
Now a year later, the character Roshan will die in a new version of the film to be released very shortly. Confirming these developments, Rakeysh says, “I made a mistake. I should have gone with my original script with the tragic ending. Going by the reactions I got after I showed the newly edited film at the Venice Film Festival in September, I am sure this is the right version of Delhi-6.”
The new version will coincide with Rakeysh embarking on his next directorial project, apparently the historical Mirza Sahibaan, which the director is now in the process of casting.
Rakeysh is also set to begin a professional story bank within his production house. The director says, “While there is an acute shortage of writers in our cinema, new writers seem to have no access to the mainstream banners. We want to give these writers a chance to bring their talents to our company.”
Rakeysh will also be introducing new directorial talent. “I am surprised at the number of new talented writer-directors who are coming to us with wonderful innovative ideas. I want to make these talented filmmakers a part of my team. I can’t make all the films that I want to. These directors can make some
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