Ranbir or Vidya: Who’s the next James Bond of B-town?

Vidya Balan’s upcoming movie is called Bobby Jasoos while Ranbir Kapoor’s is Jagga Jasoos.

Is it a mere coincidence that two movies with a jasoos as the protagonist are being produced simultaneously? Even the movies’ names are pretty derivative — one is called Jagga Jasoos (Ranbir Kapoor-starrer) and the other, Bobby Jasoos (Vidya Balan-starrer). Which one came first and which was the ‘inspired one’?

Jagga Jasoos, co-produced by Anurag Basu and Ranbir Kapoor, won the race when it comes to which movie’s presence was made known prior to the other. “Though Ranbir took the lead with Jagga Jasoos being announced first, Bobby Jasoos was not an afterthought,” a source told the Hindustan Times. “It [Bobby Jasoos] was always in the pipeline and it was just coincidental that the two films, with a detective as a central protagonist, have similar sounding titles, as well.”

Dia Mirza and Sahil Sangha, co-producers of Bobby Jasoos, (and director Samar Shaikh) were all pretty amused when they heard about Jagga Jasoos, the source added.



“We were like ‘Yeh kya ho raha hai [What is happening]’,” said Mirza. “This was a seed that had been brewing for a long time in our hearts and minds.” The process of penning down the script had started two and half years ago, while the title of Bobby Jasoos was registered barely eight months ago. “And this was always going to be the title,” she added.

Sangha reveals the reactions, the title has received so far, have been phenomenal. “I remember when we first told people about Bobby Jasoos, they would end up asking whether it was the story of a man or a woman,” he said. “I guess when a title doesn’t really suggest the sex of the protagonist, it is always a good thing.” He feels they have surprised the audience by roping in Balan for the lead.

Basu and Ranbir, on the contrary, say they had the title in their minds for a long time.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 28^th, 2013.

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