Drona: The latest Bollywood movie of Abhishek Bachchan and Priyanka Chopra
Title: Drona
Director: Goldie Behl
Cast: Abhishek Bachchan, Priyanka Chopra, Kay Kay Menon and Jaya Bachchan.
Synopsis: At first look at the story of ‘Drona,’ it appeared to me that the movie is the Indian version of Lord of the Rings. The story structure is almost the same; accepting one’s destiny and save the world from the shadows of evil and destruction.
Aditya was born and brought up in a foster family. Little did he know that he was the descendent of a legendary family and possessed great power. During his childhood, Aditya used to have nightmares that would make him cry. After he woke up from sleep, he would find a ‘BlueCross petal’ came wafting in the wind. Every time it happened he found this beautiful petal and ended up smiling amidst his tears.
An evil magician, Riz Raizada (Kay Kay Menon), has become power hungry and impatient to conquer the earth. However, there is one major obstacle; ‘Drona,’ a legendary warrior who would destroy him and his evil plans. Riz Raizada goes out to hunt for ‘Drona.’ One day, Riz Raizada sees Aditya (Abhishek Bachchan) and realizes that Aditya is Drona. Aditya, who till now, has been leading an ordinary uneventful life, sets out on a journey that would change his life forever. He does not understand why Riz Raizada wants to kill him.
Before Riz Raizada could get him, he was protected by Sonia (Priyanka Chopra). Aditya could not understand what was going on. Sonia decided to take him to his birthplace, the Kingdom of Pratapgarh, where his mother, Queen Jayati Devi (Jaya Bachchan), could tell him everything. Before they could reach Pratapgarh, Riz and his army caught them. Now, it is upto Aditya to rise up to the occasion and accept his proper place as warrior ‘Drona,’ liberator of the mankind.
Drona (Abhishek Bachchan): He is the legendary warrior, the protector of the eternal cycle of ‘life and death.’ Aditya is actually ‘Drona.’ He did not know about it until he met Riz Raizada, the evil magician.
Sonia(Priyanka Chopra): Leader of a cult and a fearsome warrior. Her family has been serving the King of Pratapgarh for a long time. Sonia and his cult believes that ‘Drona’ would come and liberate them.
Queen Jayati Devi (Jaya Bachchan): Queen of Pratapgarh and Aditya’s real mother. She has answers to all the questions Aditya has been looking for.
Riz Raizada (Kay Kay Menon): An evil magician and a descendent of of the Asuras, the legendary evil. Riz Raizada has great evil powers and he wants to take over the world ‘Drona’ is the only person who can stop him.
Trivia:
- The title ‘Drona’ is actually taken from a famous character of the Mahabharata, the great Indian epic. Drona Acharaya, was the famous teacher who taught archery to both the Kauravas and the Pandavas. Abhishek Bachchan’s sister Shweta Bachchan liked the name very much and she wanted to name her son Drona. Unfortunately, her dream did not come true. When Abhishek Bachchan and Goldie Behl were talking about the movie, Shweta told them that they should name the movie ‘Drona.’ In the beginning, Goldie and Abhishek were not sure but then they decided to keep the name.
- Director of ‘Drona’, Goldie Behl, and Abhishek Bachchan, lead actor of the movie, are childhood friends. Goldie Behl’s father, Ramesh Behl was a famous director who worked with Abhishek Bachchan’s parents- Amitabh Bachchan and Jaya Bachchan. Goldie Behl’s debut movie as a director, Baas Itna Sa Khwaab Hai, starred Abhishek Bachchan and Rani Mukherjee.
- It was Abhishek Bachchan and Goldie Behl’s childhood dream to make a movie like ‘Drona’ that would have sword fighting. When Abhishek Bachchan was five and Goldie Behl was six they went to Goa. Ramesh Behl was shooting for Pukaar with Amitabh Bachchan. In the movie, there was a scene where Amitabh Bachchan and Prem Chopra had to fight with swords. One day, Goldie and Abhishek went to the sets and they saw some swords lying around. They took two swords and started playing and broke them. As for their punishment, they were sent back to the hotel. Since then, they decided to make a movie that would involve sword fighting and they would throw away people from the set.
- For ‘Drona,’ Abhishek Bachchan and Kay Kay Menon had to learn sword fighting. Abhishek Bachchan’s wife, Aishwarya Bachchan, learned sword fighting for her character in the movie, Last Legion. Goldie Behl hired famous sword master, Richard Ryan, to train Abhishek Bachchan and Kay Kay Menon. Interestingly, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan also trained under Richard Ryan. Upon knowing that Abhishek Bachchan was Aishwarya Bachchan’s husband, Richard was very happy.
- For playing the character of ‘Drona,’ Goldie Behl told Abhishek Bachchan to grow long hair and beard. Abhishek Bachchan studied in boarding school and he was not used to long hairs. It was quite problematic for him in the first place. To stop the hair from falling on his face, Abhishek Bachchan started wearing head band and it became a fashion statement. In the movie, viewers will also see Abhishek Bachchan wearing a head gear. It is actually to stop the hair from falling on his face.
- Goldie Behl, director of ‘Drona,’ already decided to make a sequel of the movie. He said:
“I will be making a sequel of it anyway. I hope that the film is well received, but even if it is not, I will go with its sequel…When I wrote this film, I had written so much that it cannot be incorporated in a single film. The end of the film leaves a question mark. So there is already a story before and after the film. It has a prequel and sequel written in the story form. I am sure people would like to know what happened before and after this,”
- Abhishek Bachchan is one of the few Bollywood actors to work in three movies with sequels- Dhoom, Dhoom 2, Sarkar,Sarkar Raj, and ‘Drona.’
- Rumor spread out that without informing the producers ‘Drona’ star, Abhishek Bachchan, planned to build his muscles and go bare-chested in ‘Drona.’ Upon knowing the news, producer, Shrishti Arya, called Abhishek Bachchan and complained that he had decided to grow muscles, shave his chest and go bare-bodied and did not even told her. Abhishek Bachchan was very much surprised to hear this. Later, it was made clear that Abhishek Bachchan would not grow muscles and go bare-chested in ‘Drona.’
- In ‘Drona,’ Priyanka Chopra played the character of Sonia. She is a warrior and descendent of an ancient family. Priyanka Chopra is also Abhishek Bachchan’s body guard. The idea of Priyanka Chopra playing the role of Drona’s bodyguard came from Abhishek Bachchan. He said:
“During the scripting stage, when Goldie said that Priyanka will play my love interest, I suggested that apart from that she should also be my bodyguard. In the film, her father’s character is my father’s bodyguard. Since I take over my family legacy in Drona , I thought why not let Priyanka do that too?â€
In his other movie, Dilli 6, which is directed by Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra, Abhishek Bachchan gave him lots of suggestion which even impressed Rakeysh very much and he said that some day Abhishek Bachchan would become a great director.
- In ‘Drona,’ Priyanka Chopra performed many stunts but she got nervous when she was told to shot a scene riding a horse. Goldie Behl said:
“The horse sequence was very prominent for the scene. After a creative discussion, she actually shot for the entire sequence. Once the camera rolled no one could make out that she was scared and she shot like a pro.â€
- There are many special effects in ‘Drona.’ Though the shooting completed in 2007, it took almost nine months to finish the special effects followed by post production works of the movies.
- Like Lord of the Rings, ‘Drona’ also uses lots of special effects but the main problem is, when it comes to special effects Bollywood movie makers are way behind Hollywood movie makers. For this reason, many are thinking that special effects is the major weak point of ‘Drona.’
- For the special effects of ‘Drona,’ six Indian studios were hired- Eros’s EyeQube, Prana, Future Works, Red Chillies, Tata Elxsi and Prime Focus Plus. The overall special effects were supervised by David Bush, a foreigner, who worked in several European movies.
- The costumes of ‘Drona,’ were designed by Anaita Shroff Adajania and Gaurav Gupta. Anaita Shroff Adajania designed costumes for movies like Dhoom 2, Being Cyrus. In Dhoom 2, she designed costumes for Hrithik Roshan, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan and Abhishek Bachchan. In ‘Drona,’ Anaita Shroff experimented with the actors’ looks and various fabrics.
- Abhishek Bachchan’s costume in ‘Drona’ was inspired from the traditional dresses wore by bridegroom and medieval warriors. Anaita said:
“The idea for Abhishek’s costume in the film came from the Indian groom who wears a sherwani, an achkan and a churidar. We have kept a very vintage look for him that also gives a slightly 3-D impression of the superhero with an earthy appeal to it…We have also used panels of the same fabric to give his coat much more dimension,”
Abhishek Bachchan wore a linen coat with metal embroidery that would look like and armor. He also wore a stole representing power, a bracelet and a headgear adorned with jewels. The headgear was inspired from Rajasthani women.
- Talented actor Kay Kay Menon played the villain in ‘Drona.’ He is the evil magician, Riz Raizada, who is planning to take over the world and Drona would stop him from doing that. For his character, Kay Kay Menon sported a Mohawk hairstyle, wore pointy metal rings, and light colored contact lenses. Kay Kay Menon was not comfortable with the rings. Anaita said:
“Kay Kay’s character is the most quirky of the lot. We have blended a Shakespearean feel with a strong reptilian texture to it. He wears a cape that gives the impression of a lizard or a crocodile,”
- As all the costumes of ‘Drona’ were custom made, costume designers spent a lot time in research. Anaita said:
While Abhishek’s organic look has influences drawn from the medieval warriors, Japanese comics and Roman soldiers; Kay Kay’s look has got a very strong Japanese comic book influence.
- In ‘Drona,’ Priyanka Chopra played the character of a female warrior, who is actually Abhishek Bachchan’s body guard and love interest. Her look is a mixture of present day fashion and Indian myth. For starters, she wears a head gear which is heavily influenced by the turbans wore by the Sikhs. The actress wears tight black pants under leather detail. Anaita says:
“Priyanka’s costume in the film constitutes an angarakha, slightly cut into a tiny waistcoat, with a brocade coat. She also wears boots with red heels to show the feminine side. As the film progresses, the colours of her costume keep changing, keeping the fieriness of her character in mind,”
In order to show her feminine side and agility as a warrior, the designers used various fabrics including- chiffon, georgette and leather. She wore a leather band tied across her head with matching armbands and a ring.
- On September 30, 2008, the first book of the ‘Drona Comic Book Series’ hit the stores around India. To promote the movie, the producers have decided to publish a comics series titled “The Adventures of Drona.†Yesterday, the first comic book of the series, “The Crowning†came out. It is a prologue of the movie ‘Drona.’ The comic books will be distributed by Euro Kids. Initially 20,000 copies have been published. Each of the comic books cost Rs. 50. According to Shrishti Arya, producer, ‘Drona’:
“We realized the potential of making Drona comic books while working on the merchandise with Turner. Some parts of this comic book will be seen in the movie also. We plan to publish a series of books after this one,”
Aside from comic books, producers of ‘Drona’ are also going to give out various merchandise products including clothes, swords, mugs, books, tiffin boxes, e-cards etc. On September 26, 2008, Abhishek Bachchan went to reality TV show, Big Boss 2, to promote ‘Drona.’ There he took a suitcase full of merchandise products of ‘Drona’ and gave it to the contestants of the show.
- To promote ‘Drona,’ Abhishek Bachchan made a special appearance in the popular serial Balika Vadhu, broadcast by Colors, the general Hindi entertainment channel. This is Abhishek Bachchan’s second television appearance to promote his movie.
- Eros Entertainment, the distributor of Abhishek Bachchan starrer ‘Drona,’ planned to distribute 400 prints of the movie in the overseas market. This is a major record. A source said that the decision was taken to maximize the company’s profit.
- Famous Indian mobile phone software and content developing company, Mauj Mobile, acquired the world wide rights of ‘Drona.’ The company will provide customized games, ring tones, wallpapers, animations, and themes of the movie. Users will also have access to a voice portal where they will be able to hear interviews of the actors, songs and trivia.
- Like Jodhaa Akbar, ‘Drona’ director, Goldie Behl, also faced problems from the animal rights group. While shooting at Kolyath in Bikaner, one of the horses died. The ‘Bishoni community’ lodged a complaint with two NGO organizations- People for Animal and Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. The NGOs said that the horse’s body was buried without any post-mortem but the producers said that they did not stay there long enough that would cause death to the horse. They said that the horse died even before they started shooting.
- Director Goldie Behl spared no cost to make ‘Drona’ an out and out entertainer. He even hired a famous New Jersey based dance troop to perform in one of the songs of the movie. The song titled ‘Oopcha’ was picturised on Priyanka Chopra. Interestingly, the name of the dance troop is Son of A Bitch (SoB). Goldie Behl watched the troop performing in one of the nightclubs and he was so much impressed that he hired them for his movie and flew them to Mumbai. Within two days, the troop finished shooting the song. After the shooting ended, to show their appreciation, the troop re-shoot the entire song in one take.
- Goldie Behl shot in Prague for ‘Drona.’ Unfortunately, the crew could not complete the shooting due to bad weather. Goldie ended up creating a similar set in Mumbai and completed the rest of the shooting. For the movie, three latest Alfa Romeo model cars were brought to India and Abhishek Bachchan wanted to have one of them. The cars were all bought in Europe and all them had left hand drives which was not applicable in India.
Useful links:
http://www.nowrunning.com/movie/Previews/MoviePreview.aspx?movie=3842
http://www.apunkachoice.com/dyn/movies/hindi/drona/drona-preview.html
http://www.masala.com/7053-goldie-and-i-planned-drona-when-we-were-kids
http://sify.com/movies/bollywood/fullstory.php?id=14760316
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Entertainment/Priyanka_protects/articleshow/3526742.cms
http://www.masala.com/6783-how-the-drona-stars-were-dressed
http://www.masala.com/6822-will-drona-be-a-flop-like-love-story-2050
http://www.buzz18.com/snippets/gossip/abhishek-gives-up-his-dream-car/85341/0
http://www.khabrein.info/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=17173&Itemid=70
http://www.bollywoodhungama.com/news/2007/01/27/8737/index.html
http://www.bollywoodhungama.com/news/2007/10/08/10211/index.html
http://www.bollywoodhungama.com/news/2006/11/27/8291/index.html
http://www.buzz18.com/news/movies/will-abhiskek-beat-srk-with-drona/85501/0
http://www.apunkachoice.com/scoop/bollywood/20080930-2.html
http://www.indiantelevision.com/aac/y2k8/aac618.php
http://www.bollyspice.com/view.php/1788-priyanka-8217-s-phobia-on-8216-drona-8217.html
http://www.mynews.in/fullstory.aspx?storyid=10635
http://www.financialexpress.com/news/drona-is-a-comingofage-fantasy-film/366759/
http://www.santabanta.com/cinema.asp?pid=22644
