Can Bangistan be this year's Tere Bin Laden?

Director Karan Anshuman's film Bangistan, starring Pulkit Samrat and Riteish Deshmukh in the lead roles has a well thought out concept. It features two hardliners from different religions whose positions have been interchanged.

Director Karan Anshuman's film Bangistan, starring Pulkit Samrat and Riteish Deshmukh in the lead roles has a well thought out concept. It features two hardliners from different religions whose positions have been interchanged.

Pulkit-Samrat-Riteish-Deshmukh-and-Jacqueline-Fernandez-dance-in-a-song-from-Bangistan

Anshuman, who was a film critic earlier, says in an interview: "It was just for some time that I decided to write about films. I really understood a lot about cinema especially Indian cinema in terms of the current trends, what are the kinds of films people are making, what does the audience like and not like, what do I like and what would I like to make. So that really helped me in shaping my first film."

The film will see Riteish playing Hafeez Bin Ali, and he says that his political background made him better prepared for the role. "I hope that being born in a political family has made me wiser, because you are very careful about the words that you speak. Since childhood I have realized and known what one speaks and how things are put forward in front of media. And always being an architect has taught me 'Less is More'. So I try and choose wisely what I say," the actor says.

Riteish and Pulkit are working together for the first time in Bangistan.

Riteish adds, "About choices of films, it has nothing to do with political backdrop or else I would have never done Grand Masti. I think the films I choose to do, may be it will sound politically incorrect, are the ones which I enjoy to do and I am glad that people enjoy watching them too."

Bangistan is Karan Anshuman's directorial debut.

He also extends praise for his co-star Jacqueline Fernandez in the film. "What has changed is the fact is that she's become a better performer, even more confident dancer, you can see that in her performance in songs, there is a certain level of perfection that she's attained. Hats off to her and I wish her all the best. I'm really happy for her that she's doing so well."

Watch: Bangistan Trailer

The film's trailers have generated a good word-of-mouth before its release on Friday, August 7. Bangistan's subject is similar to 2010 film Tere Bin Laden as both of them have people with fake identities and religious prejudices at the helm of affairs. Tere Bin Laden was a sleeper hit in 2010, and it seems Bangistan is set to achieve the same feat. (With input from IANS)

Read: Riteish Deshmukh's Bangistan banned in Pakistan, UAE