Saturday, May 19, 2007

Salaam-e-Ishq to get viewer-friendly


In what will qualify as the first-ever experiment in Hindi cinema, Nikhil Advani's Salaam-e-Ishq (a story of six different couples) will be divided into six separate love stories with each plot treated as individual, self-contained plots.

This viewer-friendly version will conclusively illustrate the fact that fragmented formats don't work in India. Explains Nikhil, "Going by the track record of films with several sub-plots, including mine, we can assume audiences like to see only one plot in a feature film. So many people have told me they would've preferred Salaam-e-Ishq as six different films."

Hence, Eros Entertainment is now coming out with a version of the film called the theatrical cut, as opposed to the director's cut. This will be available on DVD and viewers will have the liberty of viewing each track separately. "So those who liked John and Vidya's track can watch only that portion and skip the other sub-plots," explains Nikhil.


While Nikhil admits his film had flaws, he definitely didn't anticipate the sort of harsh criticism he got for it. "Sometimes I wonder where I went wrong. In fact, the one track I could improve would be the one with Salman Khan and Priyanka Chopra. I think I went wrong with that," he says.

Meanwhile, he is keeping busy shooting ad films. "I've shot 12 commercials so far and it's been a learning experience. Making ads teaches you economy of space. A lot of people think I need lessons in that after three-and-a-half hours of Salaam-e-Ishq! I've shot ads with John Abraham, Hrithik Roshan and Saif Ali Khan, among others. They give me the financial security to direct the films I want to make."

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