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The Past Blast: When Akshay Kumar and Vidya Balan had come on board Dev Anand’s Guide remake..
Titled Rahgir, the film was to be directed by acclaimed filmmaker, Rituparno Ghosh. However, it was shelved after a public notice from Dev Anand threatening legal action. Details.
In 1965, Dev Anand won over the audience across the globe with Guide, which was also India’s Official entry to the Oscars. The film was a smash hit and has attained a cult status over the years with Time Magazine listing it at the 4th spot on the list of Best Bollywood Classics. 40 years after it’s release, in 2006, producer Pritish Nandy was planning to bring Guide back to life with Akshay Kumar and Vidya Balan stepping into Dev Anand and Waheeda Rehman’s shoes.
The film was titled Rahgir, which meant traveler or wanderer, and it was to be helmed by acclaimed filmmaker, Rituparno Ghosh. Both Akshay and Vidya, who are a big fan of the original, had shown their interest to come on board the film and bring it for the new age audience. The idea was to present Akshay like never before in this slice of life musical. While the media had addressed the film as the official remake of Guide, producer, Nandy had cleared the air saying that the film is based on the novel, Guide, by RK Laxman, and not a direct remake of Dev Anand’s classic.
However, the media continued to report it as Guide remake and this led to an outburst of emotions from veteran actor, Dev Anand. He was upset that the classic was being remade without his consent and gave out a press statement threatening legal action to the producer if they went ahead with the remake as all the rights, including that of the novel rested with his production house, Navketan Films. After the film being in the news for all the wrong reasons, Akshay decided to take a back seat as he didn’t want to upset a legend like Dev Anand.
The film was eventually shelved and bringing Guide back to life remains a distant dream for everyone since then.
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