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Curse of the Kohinoor is not your average Bollywood movie. The film is produced by Ziryab Entertainment. The movie is being financed by the same team that financed Kaante and Musafir! The first images from Curse of the Kohinoor were released this week. Ahead are five surprising things we learned about the new epic coming to theaters next year! The film is a Hindi movie that is being filmed in Bengal, and it features Rahsaan Noor (of “Simanaheen” fame) and Tarini Pal in the lead roles
1. The movie is a hero’s journey.
This plot structure, one that is prevalent in Hollywood from Star Wars to Iron Man, has never been told in Bollywood stories in this way before. It’s a structure that was identified by American mythologist Joseph Campbell in his study of epics that have stayed in the human consciousness throughout time. The hero’s journey has very distinct plot elements, which can be found in stories as old as Homer’s Odyssey. Much in the same vein, the script of Curse of the Kohinoor colors this structure with a very unique Indian palette. And for even more spice, the hero of the movie is a she – Asha played by Tarini Pal.
2. Daku Sultan Kazi isn’t your typical Daku.
Coloring the plot will be Daku Sultan Kazi’s eccentric personality. The role is portrayed by Rahsaan Noor and he isn’t, say, your typical Gabbar Singh. He is described as an ex-member of the mythic Thuggee cult and goes rogue, thus taking on the world as a Daku in his ambition to obtain the Kohinoor diamond. Moreover, this is a Daku that likes to dabble in magic tricks, which should make his interactions with Tarini Pal’s Asha a lot more interesting.
3. The film features a secret society.
It is said that in the aftermath of the Kalinga War, Ashoka created a secret society of nine unknown men in order to develop the knowledge of nine different disciplines and protect them from the hands of evil. This secret society was given the name Naukavi (Nine Poets) by the creators of Curse of the Kohinoor. A few of the characters in the film are said to belong to this secret society, but their identities were not revealed. If they were, it wouldn’t be a secret society then!
4. The whole film is set in 1837 Bengal.
This is the capital of British India during that time and it makes sense since we see the fictitious Governor General of India, Lord Savage, in the first look images. As previously revealed, the story features magic and spirits. Thus, the filmmakers are creating a more grounded realistic Bengal in order to make the magic in the world more fantastic.
Director Raghav Murali explained,
“You won’t be seeing the lavish sets and costumes of a Sanjay Leela Bhansali movie. But to the common people, magic in a real world context can be much more fascinating and awe-inducing than magic in a magical world, which is more or less expected.”
5. There is already a plan for several more films.
Okay, so this one is not so surprising, but we did get some details: The movie’s scriptwriters have the next two films mapped out in what is being called the Naukavi trilogy. While there are currently existing Bollywood franchises, none of them have movies that are connected with one another except for the title itself. Curse of the Kohinoor is the first film in the Naukavi Trilogy – the first trilogy, in the truest sense of the word, in Indian cinema since Satyajit Ray’s Apu Trilogy.
Seems like this is going to be one incredible trilogy and we can’t wait to see it!
