Lal seems all set to overtake his pal Siddique.
Lal and Siddique, the best of pals ever since they played football in Kochi when they were young, parted ways on the professional front after delivering five back to back hits (which they directed together as the Siddique-Lal duo) in as many years. Though they have been declaring time and again that on the personal level they are still the best of pals, people tend to be a bit skeptic about that.
Well, personal relations are personal. Let’s come to what’s professional.
After parting ways, Siddique concentrated on directing and Lal on production, distribution and acting. And then, one fine day, Lal decides to direct a movie, his first solo directorial venture.
Thus took form ‘2 Harihar Nagar’, the sequel to ‘In Harihar Nagar’, the first film directed jointly by Siddique and Lal in 1989. The sequel was coming out almost two decades after the prequel, but when it hit screens, ‘2 Harihar Nagar’ simply rocked. Yeah, that would be the right phrase to describe the effect. It just rocked the theatres.
Now, the latest buzz is that Lal is getting ready with another ‘Harihar Nagar’ sequel. The film, ‘In Ghost House Inn’, is nearing completion and would hit screens soon.
On the other hand, Siddique, who has been delivering his own solo hits too, has been busy with
his Dileep movie, ‘Bodyguard’, which seems to be getting unduly delayed. The movie, which has Nayantara as the heroine and Thyagarajan playing a key role, is said to be all complete, but owing to some ‘technical’ reasons, ‘Bodyguard’ hasn’t yet been released.
Moreover, nobody seems to know as to when it will be released. Well, it puzzles almost everyone (me in the first place) because Siddique is seen in Malayalam as the man with the proverbial ‘Midas touch’ and the film has an interesting and impressive star cast too. (Hey, Nayan is there na?!)
Lal meanwhile began ‘In Ghost House Inn’ almost after Siddique had shot and canned ‘Bodyguard’. The way things go now seems to suggest that Lal may very well overtake his pal and ‘In Ghost House Inn’ may hit screens soon while ‘Bodyguard’ may drag on for some more time. Nothing is now heard about the film’s release.
Well, let’s hope that ‘Bodyguard’ reaffirms Siddique’s stand as the director who has given only hits and no flops and also that ‘In Ghost House Inn’ rocks theatres the way ‘In Harihar Nagar’ and ‘2 Harihar Nagar’ did.
