Being in good company

Guessing game

He also clarified that his next directorial venture is neither a sequel to Company nor a prequel to Ab Tak Chhappan.

“All I can tell you at the moment is that Mr Bachchan plays a gangster-turned-politician in Department. Whom he's modelled on is open to conjecture and I am certainly not telling,” said Varma, whose last film with Big B was Rann.

The film, said to be the most expensive project of Varma, is being feverishly scripted. Details are being kept under wraps since it involves some volatile characters.

In the film, Varma wants Big B's character to be that of a grassroot-level superhero.
“I've always seen Mr Bachchan as a hero of the masses. I want him to be cast as larger-than-life hero in Department,” he said.

Interestingly, Varma who has cast Amitabh and Abhishek in father-son role in Sarkar and Sarkar Raj, has not cast them in the same role in Department.

“No, Mr Bachchan and Abhishek are not father and son in Department. Abhishek and Sanjay Dutt are cops. They share a pupil-mentor relationship,” he explains.

In real-life too Abhishek looks up to Dutt. “That's why I cast them as mentor and pupil,” said Varma.

When asked about playing a gangster-turned-politician in Department, Big B said: “Oh,
is that what Ramu has cast me as in Department? I've not yet discussed the antecedents of my role with him.”