Wadoo is not Sikandar: Director

Abid Khan

Srinagar, Mar 20: Day after Valley’s international footballer, Me’raj-ud-Din Wadoo distanced himself from the upcoming Bollywood movie, Sikandar, the director, Piyush Jha on Friday said that the movie is not about the life of Wadoo.
 “Movie has nothing to do with Wadoo. It is not his life history and is purely fictional creativity of the writer,” Piyush told Greater Kashmir over phone from Mumbai.
 He said that in all the media reports and interviews he had been quoted out of context that has created confusion.
 “The movie is based on the story of a small town player who has achieved big. I’ve given example of M S Dhoni who has come from Ranchi and also of Wadoo who is a Kashmiri. But I never said that it is story of Wadoo,” he clarified.
 “The movie is pure fiction and has not got remotest connection with real life. Sikandar is based in Kashmir and on Kashmir. It does not venture into politics, nor is it a message-oriented film. It has been structured like suspense thriller, issues confronting are held at the backdrop. This type of story can happen in Hyderabad or America and elsewhere,” he added
 Piyush said that it is story of the boy who aspires to play football for national team. “It is his story and what happens in his life and typical Bollywood masala elements have been added to it. It is a pure commercial film and we have included all the elements of commercial cinema in it,” he said.
 Earlier on Thursday, Wadoo distanced himself from the movie and said that the story has nothing to do with his journey. 
 The director said that he cleared all the matters with Wadoo and apologized him for all the inconvenience caused due to the misunderstanding.
 “I told Wadoo that movie has nothing to do with his life and it is all misunderstanding created by the media,” Piyush said.
 The film stars Kuch Kuch Hota Hain and Parzania fame Parzaan Dastur now in his teens, Ayesha Kapur of Black fame along with R Madhavan, Sanjay Suri and Arunoday Singh in key roles. The film has been mostly shot in Pahalgam and is scheduled to be released on March 27.

Published In greater kashmir on Mar 21: link http://www.greaterkashmir.com/full_story.asp?Date=21_3_2009&ItemID=4&cat=4