Subhash Ghai looks to Punjab for his 'Kaanchi'

WANTED: Young girl, age 19-25, fair, bright eyes, stout, rustic, normal height, extrovert.

No, this may read like any other regular matrimonial ad, but it is not. This long list of needs has been posted by writer-director-filmmaker Subhash Ghai who is all set to start work on yet another one of his ambitious projects, Kaanchi. After handing over the reigns of his film and media school, Whistling Woods, to his daughter, Ghai has come out of his 'self imposed interval mode' and slipped into action, in a space that is his first love - filmmaking.

In town to scout and audition for the perfect girl to play his Kaanchi, Ghai talks about how this film took two and half years to finalise, and that once he has chosen his lead heroine, the film will fall into place. "Kaanchi is a Rs 30 crore budget film, and is the story of a young innocent mountain girl who has no clue about life or people or how the system works. Things happen in this love story and she sets out on a mission to change her life," narrates Ghai who has signed Rishi Kapoor and Mithun Chakraborty as the two villains, the antagonists of the film.

Are we being treated to Taal and Saudagar all over again? "No," he insists, "Taal was a love triangle and Saudagar had two friends in Dilip Kumar and Rak Kumar. Kaanchi stems from the issue of disparities - as they say in Hindi films, kahaani diya aur toofan ki."

The film has been written and developed by him, and its lead actor will be announced once the girl is finalised. Ghai is considered a starmaker who has given the industry talented actresses including Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Madhuri Dixit, Meenakshi Sheshadri and Manisha Koirala, and this time around he has given the likes of Kareena Kapoor and Katrina Kaif a miss as he is looking for someone like Parineeti Chopra's character in Ishaqzaade, and hence is hoping to find the same look from Punjab and Chandigarh.

... contd.

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