Muffler man 3

MUFFLER MAN 3

So, I'M onto the final screenplay draft of my superhero blockbuster MUFFLER MAN 3. (Sadly MUFFLER MAN 1 and MUFFLER MAN 2 tanked badly at the box office.

MUM 1 ended up being shown in festivals in Cannes and Venice. And MUM 2 ran for 49 days in Delhi). But the third instalment has solid masala.

It has vibrant songs (‘Main hoon Muffler Man, dan de dan de dan' is already a chart topper), VFX galore, villains extraordinaire and voluptuous leading ladies.

Illustration / Amit Bandre

Steven Spielberg and Pixar Movies are battling for the movie rights. Spielberg wants to make it a real-life superhero
flick with a dharna-obsessed, broom-brandishing, desi daredevil sweeping down from the Red Fort onto his unsuspecting enemies. Pixar obviously wants to ‘animate' the movie. I'm hedging my bets. I've refused DREAMWORKS, who wanted to cast Johnny Depp as Kejriwal. (I mean, you saw what happened to SHANTARAM.

I just don't trust Indo-US productions). Here in India Yashraj and Disney are wooing me. So, here's the gist of my story (with cast possibilities):

AK (Irrfan Khan) is a simple tax officer in Delhi, fighting corruption. Checking registers, hauling up defrauders, he begins to create ripples in the corridors of power, causing much rancour. He is humiliated by certain forces of evil and forced to wear a white cap with the black letters - ‘I am an aam admi'. He is put into jail and made to sweep the jail floors with a broom, all of which strengthen his resolve. Every day he looks at the ‘jhadu' in his hand, like Robert The Bruce looked at the spider. When he is released from jail, simple taxman AK morphs into superhero MUFFLER MAN (Arjun Rampal). Dharnas during the day and daredevilry at night.

(Accha, slight hitch here, my script has indicated that my superhero's identity is masked by a elongated strip of woolen cloth - akin to Phantom's and Batman's mask. Arjun Rampal is objecting to his face being covered.)

"Dude, my fans want to see my face. And after Roy, for sure' (how to tell him after Roy, he doesn't have too many fans left?)

So, my instinct was to recast. But SRK has already played Ra.One, Hrithik has done the Krrish series, Aamir has PK and Salman has Kick.

Anyway, I'm sidetracking, back to the plot.

So, my hero is AK by day. Bespectacled and wearing a white cap with black lettering, he is standing for political office with a broom in hand and the whole nation has its hopes pinned on him. As the sun sets, he becomes a superhero, watching over the city, a muffler covering his head safeguarding him against the Delhi cold.

He has three arch-rivals. A man named Modus, who wears a shiny mauve jacket, with the name ‘Modus' embroidered vertically on it. Ameet S (Anupam Kher is being considered for the part) and KB, a female cop-turned-crusader-turned-politician (we're talking to Dimple Kapadia).

So that's it guys, won't reveal more. MUFFLER MAN 3 opens on August 15. (By the way, no cash will be accepted when buying tickets, only cheques)

Rahul da Cunha is an adman, theatre director/playwright, photographer and traveller.

Reach him at rahuldacunha62 @gmail.com The views expressed in this column are the individual's and don't represent those of the paper.