Producer and former Central Board of Film Certification chairperson Pahlaj Nihalani is directing a film based on fugitive businessman Vijay Mallya with Govinda is in the lead, ANI reported. The actor has a double role, and three new heroines will be launched in the movie, which has been titled Rangeela Raja, Nihalani said.
The former Kingfisher Airlines chairperson has been fighting extradition to India to be tried in fraud and money-laundering cases. Mallya has been accused of defaulting on about Rs 9,380 crores in loans for his now-defunct Kingfisher Airlines.
Nihalani was sacked as censor chief in August 2017 and replaced by Prasoon Joshi. He had produced several hits in the 1980s and ’90s, including Govinda’s Ilzaam in 1986.
A song sequence in Raja Rangeela has been inspired by the models featured in the Kingfisher calendar, said Nihalani, who had raged against profanity and explicit material during his tenure. “The entire look, feel, appearance and rhythm of the song sequence are based on the Kingfisher calendars,” Nihalani told Deccan Chronicle. “As for Govinda playing Mallya, let’s keep the suspense going. I am neither denying nor admitting it. All I can say is that Govinda plays a man who is the biggest scamster of our times. Need I say more?”
Nihalani’s directorial debut Avatar (2012), also starring Govinda, was never released. “Unlike the streetwise comic characters, Govinda is famous for, he plays a very sophisticated character in Rangeela Raja,” Nihalani told IANS.
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