Bilal Amrohi to revive family banner

This week’s debutant hero Bilal Amrohi who got decent reviews for his performance in the political satire O Teri is all set to revive his family’s illustrious banner. Bilal is the grandson of the legendary Kamal Amrohi who produced and directed such towering classics as Pakeezah, Razia Sultan, Mahal and Dil Apna Aur Preet Parayi. Now Bilal plans to revive his grandfather’s banner. Says the ambitious grandson, “People tend to see only Pakeezah as a shining example of my grandfather’s cinematic abilities. But he made so many other films that were ahead of his times. My favourite is Mahal which featured the all-time Lata Mangeshkar classic song Aayega aanewala.” Bilal would like to not only make new films under his grandfather’s banner but also remake some of Kamal Saab’s lesser-known films such as Daera. Says Bilal, “I’ve served as an assistant director to Atul Agnihotri Sir’s production house and to J P Dutta’s Saab’s banner for ten years. So I’ve been learning the ropes of filmmaking. So a little later in my career I’d like to explore the area behind the camera. But at the moment I’d like to focus on my career as an actor.” Bilal has been criticized for his character being named AIDS (acronym for Anand Ishwaram Devdutt Subramaniam) in O Teri. But Bilal defends his screen name saying, “It isn’t as though we meant to make fun of AIDS. By making a character called AIDS so endearing warm and cuddlesome we were actually saying that people with AIDS should be embraced unconditionally. Maybe that subtext didn’t come across. In any case my character’s name was a creative call taken by the script writer and director. I just had to play him.”