Bengaluru: Filmmaker R Balki liked adman and author Anand Suspi’s first book ‘Half Pants, Full Pants’ so much that he took two copies of the manuscript to give it to megastars Amitabh Bachchan and Aishwarya Rai Bachchan for promoting it on the silver screen.
“Renowned filmmaker and my ex-boss at Lowe Lintas (India), Balki, had a plan brewing in his head and he took two copies of the manuscript from me. One was for Mr Amitabh Bachchan,” Suspi said.
He wanted a second copy for Aishwarya since he felt she would enjoy and connect with the tales given her South Indian roots, Suspi told PTI. He took the copies as he wanted the top actors to promote it on the silver screen, the author, whose book was released in the city recently, said.
“Half Pants, Full Pants” is Suspi’s first book, which is a collection of stories of growing up in India’s small towns in the 1980s. Suspi remembers Balki telling him that after Malgudi Days, he would love to see “Half Pants, Full Pants” on the small-screen.
“Nearly five years ago, Balki was the first to read the entire manuscript. Something connected with him deeply.. and he said after Malgudi Days, he would love to see this on the small screen,” he said. “Half Pants” has stories where the author reminisces his days leading up to Class Seven and the other section titled “Full Pants” is about his high school days.
Balki also had an “interesting and different idea” to promote the book on the small-screen and tried to put the whole project together, he said. ”
Balki graciously and voluntarily became the Creative Head of this project and decided to put the various pieces together for me. With time, certain things didn’t materialize and this didn’t take off. Hopefully now, since the book is out, there might be more people interested in adapting this to the small screen,” he said.
The book has been launched by Paper Boat, a brand of non-carbonated beverages and energy drinks produced and marketed by Hector Beverages. Paper Boat has reprinted timeless classics like ‘Three Men in a Boat’, ‘Jungle Book’ and ‘Ramayana.’
PTI