Mr Fraud was launched with a lot of fanfare but little has been heard of it since. What’s the states quo on the film? Abbas (Defensively): Mr Fraud is 70 per cent complete. It stars Sanjay Dutt and Ajay Devgan. Unfortunately, one of the schedules fell through. Then, Sanjay got busy with his court case. Getting combination dates from such busy stars is not easy. The producer is working on it and once we get the dates we’ll wrap up the film.
If all had gone well, Abbas-Mustan would have completed their first comedy called Mr Fraud.
However the buzz is that this Sanjay Dutt-Ajay Devgan-Bipasha Basu-Anuuj Sawhney comic caper has been shelved.
According to a source very close to the film, "Mr Fraud was doomed from the start. The unit shot a very funny schedule in London.
But then Sanju's dates went haywire. Because of his court cases Mr Fraud shows no signs of progress. And now the producers Asthvinayak have decided to use the new dates allotted by Sanju to start a new film later this year."
When contacted the gentle Abbas,of Abbas-Mustan, who is busy shooting Race in Dubai has another story to tell. "Where has this news come from? It's true that Mr Fraud has been delayed.
We were supposed to complete it in September 2006. Unfortunately because of Sanju's legal hassles the dates got cancelled. In the meanwhile we started another thriller Naqaab with Bobby Deol and Akshaye Khanna..
Now we'll revive Mr Fraud very soon and the film will be hopefully released by year- end. So we have three releases lined up this year."
As for ther ready-for-release Race here's what Abbas had to say, "It's shaped up so well. And we're working with Saif for the first time. It's such a pleasure to work with him. We hope to do many more films with him."
Abbas-Mustan sign Rumi Jaffrey, Rohit Jugraj & Nishikant Kamath to direct By Subhash K. Jha, February 7, 2008 - 12:00 IST
After the much talked-about Race the quietly efficient directorial duo Abbas-Mustan are taking a sabbatical. "We're scripting two films at the moment. But for now after the release of Race we've just one film the comedy Mr. Fraud to complete. That got delayed because of various reasons including Sanjay Dutt's dates. We're going to complete the film this year as soon as we get Sanju's and Ajay Devgan's dates. Bipasha who plays the lead will of course accommodate us. She has been our leading lady in her first film. And now she's part of Race," says the soft-spoken Abbas.
Abbas-Mustan are very excited about getting a chance to work with Saif Ali Khan, Anil Kapoor and Sameera Reddy for the first time. "There are so professional. Race belongs to a genre we're identified with -the suspense thriller. But very different in subject and treatment. We'd welcome a hit because our last film Naqaab didn't do well. We feel Naqaab was ahead of its times."
The big leap forward for Abbas-Mustan in 2008 is production. "We're going full-throttle ahead with producing films," informs Abbas. "We've signed three directors. The writer Rumi Jaffrey, Rohit Jugraj (who has just made a film called Superstar and came to us with a brilliant script) and Nishikant Kamath who made the brilliant Dombivali Fast in Marathi." Dombivali Fast been done in Tamil by the same director with Madhavan in the lead. "Yes, it has," concedes Abbas. "But we're committed to do the Hindi version for a long time because we really like the subject."
The Hindi version of Dombivali Fast will star an unknown face. "The film requires a common man and a character whom the audience can easily identify with. A star just won't do," Abbas signs off.
Man liest mal wieder über Mr. Fraud und daß noch immer keine Termine gefunden wurden, um den Film fertig zu drehen. Diesmal erwähnt Bipasha Basu den Film am Ende eines Interviews: ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Atif Aslam is Bipasha`s favourite singer - February 17
Auszug:
... Bipasha started her career with Abbas-Mustan and hopes to work more with the duo. “In fact, I’ve an incomplete film ‘Mr Fraud’ with them. It is a full-on comedy with Sanjay Dutt, Ajay Devgan and Anuuj Sawhney. I’m ready to give dates whenever Sanju and Ajay find time. But they’re so busy, and so am I,” the actress said.
Abbas Mustan wird über "Mr. Fraud" befragt: Auszug aus einem Interview
The last time we met was in London in 2006 during your shoot for Mr. Fraud with Sanjay Dutt, Ajay Devgan and Bipasha Basu. Is the film shelved or is it still on? Mr Fraud is very much on. We all know that Sanjay Dutt has resumed shooting for various films. Now the producers of Mr Fraud are short listing the dates in order to go ahead and shoot the remaining 40% of the film. As it is a multi-starer, we require dates from Bipasha, Sanju baba and Ajay as there are very few solo scenes. Hopefully, in a couple of months the shooting will begin and it should be ready by the end of this year.
Arpana, Indo-Asian News Service New Delhi, March 14, 2008
Auszug:
... "In the middle we started doing another film, Mr Fraud. We did about 70 percent of the film. It got stuck in the making. But it is always a pleasure to work with them - they are very nice people, haven't changed. ...
Über Mr. Fraud... in einem Interview mit Abbas-Mustan wird wieder gesagt, daß man Mr. Fraud fertig stellen möchte, allerdings noch Änderungen vornehmen will, denn so wie die Story in 2005 gedacht war, wolle man sie nicht mehr ganz.... alles hängt immer noch in der Schwebe wegen der Terminprobleme der Hauptdarsteller. Hier sind es wieder mal 60%, die schon komplett verfilmt wurden. http://www.rediff.com/movies/2008/mar/17am.htm - ziemlich weit unten..... so einen Artikel hatten wir auch schon mal, aber rediff hat ihn halt heute eingestellt *Schulter zuck*