Here comes the son!

Amarjot Kaur

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Well, we won’t have to repeat Kangana’s stance on Bollywood’s nepotism while mentioning about the up and coming film Machine, a romantic thriller, directed by Abbas–Mustan that stars actor Mustafa Burmawala (son of Abbas Burmawala) and actress Kiara Advani in the lead roles.

Produced by Jayantilal Gada (PEN), Haresh Patel (AD Films), Pranay Chokshi, Abbas Mustan Films Productions, and Dhaval Jayantilal Gada, the film hangs its peg on the tagline that reads: Heart is the only machine that feels, so follow your heart.

“It’s a quote by Swami Vivekananda and the film has been written by Sanjeev Kaul, who has earlier directed several TV shows,” begins Abbas, who shares that the film has many shades of romance.

Both, Abbas and Mustan have frequently cast Akshay Kumar, Bobby Deol, Akshaye Khanna, Bipasha Basu, Shah Rukh Khan and Kareena Kapoor in their films. Also, they have been a crucial part of mainstream and commercial Bollywood hit films, including Khiladi, Baazigar, Soldier, Ajnabee, Baadshah, Aitraaz, Humraaz, 36 China Town, Race and Race 2. Their latest film Kis Kisko Pyaar Karoon starred comedian Kapil Sharma.

“Since we are best known for directing thrillers, I think most producers trust us with the genre,” says the duo when asked about the film. The duo, however, agrees that Machine marks the exclusivity of their Bollywood career so far, considering Abbas zeroed in on his son to play the lead role in this film.

The two maintain that there was no special treatment given to the actor by the virtue of him being Abbas’s son. “He is my son at home. However, when we are working on the set, he is only an actor and we, directors,” he shares.

Not just that, Mustafa shares that he never wanted to become an actor, though he repeatedly mentions that he trained at National School of Drama, and that he only wanted to work as an assistant director in this film too. Mustafa has previously worked as an assistant director with Abbas-Mastan for four films, including Machine, and Kis Kisko Pyaar Karoon. “Since I was working as an assistant director, I would frequently enact scenes from the film. When my elder brother saw me doing that, he suggested my name to my father. I had to then enact the entire film just only to prove to him (father) that I can act,” he shares.

Kiara, however, who is three-film old in the industry, shares that unlike Mustafa, she always wanted to become an actress. “Would you believe that I made a list of directors I would like to work with, and Abbas-Mastan was on top of the list! So, this is like a dream come true for me,” she shares.

While the actors share that the film is “different”, they express their reservations on not being able to tell us more about the film, because it is a “thriller”. “It is about following your heart and that’s all we can tell right now, or we will be giving you spoilers and running the movie for you,” they say.

With that suspense, we’ll only have to wait for the time to tell us what this romantic thriller is all about. So, are have you booked your tickets for Machine? It’s releasing this Friday on March 17.

amarjot@tribunemail.com