A few setbacks can make you want to take a break, rejuvenate yourself and get back to doing what you had set out to. Director Robbie Grewal made his directorial debut in 2003 with a thriller, made a teenage romance and then, directed a romantic comedy. Unfortunately, neither of these three films could make an impact at the box-office. Grewal took a sabbatical from films and kept himself busy by making ad films. His company Red Ice Films has made some of the most prominent television commercials in the last couple of years. The director is now back to directing a film with
Robbie’s first film ‘Samay: When Time Strikes’ was inspired from the cult Hollywood film ‘Se7en’, featuring Brad Pitt and Morgan Freeman in principal roles. The ‘unofficial’ adaptation had Sushmita Sen playing the role of a tough cop, similar to the one Brad Pitt had played in the original. Many believe the film was ahead of its time and would have done significantly better had it released a few years later. The film was a technically sound product and even fetched editor Aarif Sheikh a National Award.
After making a dark thriller, the director decided to make a romantic comedy about teenagers. The film was ‘MP3: Mera Pehla Pehla Pyaar’ and it launched two new faces in the form of Ruslaan Mumtaz and Hazel Keech. Though the film did not create ripples at the box-office, it enjoys a huge fan following today and does very well on home video and satellite. Bollywood hardly churns out films that depict the life of teenagers and this was a rather well-made film that definitely deserved a larger audience in the theatres.
The third film ‘Aloo Chaat’ is, arguably, Robbie’s least appreciated film. The film was a critical and commercial failure and has not really aged well. This Aftab Shivdasani-Aamna Sharif starrer was a romantic comedy that failed to strike a chord with the audience and unlike the aforementioned films, is not really remembered today.
The director is now back after a ten year break from films with ‘Romeo Akbar Walter’. The film had hit a roadblock two years earlier when Sushant Singh Rajput, who was signed to play the central protagonist, opted out of the film citing date issues. Rajput was replaced by John Abraham and the film is all set to hit the screen this week on April 5, 2019.