Fenil and Bollywood

The Pyaar Impossible promos will focus on Priyanka Chopra’s campus bomb avatar rather than Uday Chopra’s nerdy act, after the box-office failure of Rocket Singh…

The failure of Rocket Singh – Salesman of the Year is making producers YRF rethink the strategy of their next release, Pyaar Impossible. With Ranbir Kapoor’s nerd act in Rocket Singh… not going down well with the audience, there is a huge question mark regarding the success of Pyaar Impossible.

The film has Yash Raj scion Uday Chopra playing the consummate geek who adores the campus beauty, Priyanka Chopra from far.

With the release just a few weeks away (January 8), there’s an air of panic at the production house. One of their regular actors says, “Pyaar Impossible was designed as a vehicle for Uday. However, with nerdy heroes not doing well, everyone feels that the timid act needs to be toned down, but now it’s too late.”

Yash Raj, who had earlier thought of weaving the promos around Uday’s nerd act, has decided that it is safer to play up Priyanka’s sexy avatar instead. They are now deflecting the marketing attention from his nerd act to focus on Priyanka’s campus bomb act. Even then there’s a problem because What’s Your Raashee? proved Priyanka can’t carry a film on her shoulders.”

Incidentally, last year, Yash Raj’s Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi, where Shah Rukh Khan played a nerd was a huge box-office success. Aditya Chopra was so inspired by the film’s success that the brief he gave at Yash Raj for 2009 was to go full-throttle with the saga of the underdog.

A source adds, “Pyaar Impossible is a litmus test for YRF. It was designed as a comeback vehicle for Uday. But then Rani Mukerji’s nerdy act in men’s clothes in Dil Bole Hadippa bombed. However, it was the box-office outcome of Rocket Singh where Ranbir plays the nerd with relish that has stunned YRF the most.”

When questioned about the non-viability of the underdog, Pyaar Impossible director Jugal Hansraj says that he is sure that the failure of nerdy heroes in 2009 will not adversely affect his film. “We have approached the character of the nerd in Pyaar Impossible realistically. Uday’s character has been depicted as a brilliant student at University who is socially challenged and has no friends. He plays a nerd in a subtle manner even though this is a light-hearted romantic film.”