Post Rang De Basanti, Rakeysh Mehra plans to go back to his childhood in the Chandni Chowk area of Delhi.
"It's a script called Delhi 6 –that's the postal pin-code for where I spent my childhood. I've all my relatives, friends and memories in Chandni Chowk. This is a film that I've to make."
Delving into one's past isn't uncommon to our filmmakers. Farhan Akhtar borrowed heavy chunks of his camaraderie with college friends to make Dil Chahta Hai. Many of his hero's scenes with his father in Devdas were taken from the director Sanjay leela Bhansali's own childhood.
And in My Brother Nikhil debutant director Onirbon dug deep into his subconscious for inspiration. Even in out-and-out fantasy fare like Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham the character of the overweight brat Laddoo was modeled on the director's own battle with lard.
"It's not uncommon for filmmakers to return to their roots through their work. I won't say Delhi 6 will be autobiographical. It will give me a chance to re-live my childhood ,"says Rakeysh.
Rakeysh intends to shoot on location in Delhi . The cast is yet to be finalized. "But I won't be casting myself , that's for sure," smiles the Rang De Basanti director.
About his plans of re-releasing his first film Aks Rakeysh clarifies, "I'm not re-shooting Aks at all. What I intend to do right after Rang De Basanti is released is to do a 'director's cut' version of Aks on DVD. It's the done thing in Hollywood for directors to re-edit the film after release in a more luxuriant and spacious footage. I'm not re-shooting the film, only using the existent footage that I couldn't in the large-screen version".