Team FC
Nagraj Manjule and Ranbir Kapoor
Nagraj is a fiercely political, Dalit filmmaker who comes from a village in Maharashtra. Ranbir is Bollywood royalty. Imagine the combination of the filmmaker's searing, scarring storytelling with a legacy actor who has talent and charisma to burn. I suspect it would be magic.
Konkona Sen Sharma and Deepika Padukone
Imagine the two together, creating a film that moves beyond easy messaging and politics, to create a living, breathing portrait of a lady. It might even have that alchemy that allows a film to fill local theatres and play at festivals abroad — imagine the two of them on that red carpet at Cannes. What a photo-op!
Manikandan and Rajinikanth
This was supposed to happen, with the upcoming Kadaisi Vivasayi. In a Film Companion interview, the Kaaka Muttai director spoke about how much he wanted Superstar for the part — but alas, it was not to be. So let's rewind this situation again and pretend it can happen. Or rather, pretend it should happen.
Dibakar Banerjee and Shah Rukh Khan
This may be the perfect time to put SRK in the hands of a filmmaker like Dibakar who will definitely strip him off his outsized stardom, won't give into his arm stretching, and challenge the actor in him with a part we've never seen him in before. Perhaps we'll get a darker, angrier and restrained SRK.
Zoya Akhtar and Salman Khan
Yes, yes, it sounds strange, but there's a twinkle-in-the-eye playfulness in both these talents. It would be great to see Zoya apply her sensibilities to a masala or even a "mass" movie. It would be great to see Bhai in the hands of someone who takes scripting and character definition seriously.