Spielberg to remake The Party

The irreverent Peter Sellers comedy, The Party, banned in India in the late 1960s, is being remade by Steven Spielberg's DreamWorks and directed by Jay Roach (Austin Powers In Goldmember, Meet The Parents).

But if any desi is gearing to protest against the film's 'anti-Indian' attitude, relax.

For, as the trade publication Variety reports, the remake will not have the klutzy, accident-prone character of Hrundi V Bakshi, who is brought from New Delhi to Hollywood to play the title role in the movie Son Of Gunga Din. Bakshi, played by Sellers, creates havoc at a party.

DreamWorks has not announced the cast for the movie reportedly being budgeted at $70 million. Early reports say the plot revolve around a misfit who wrecks a huge Hollywood party. Hollywood buzz says Roach may also be interested in casting Mike Myers, whose performance in Austin Powers in Goldmember earned the film over $300 million worldwide.

The remake, made with MGM as producer, will have an actor who plays 'an outsider,' reported Variety. He does not fit the mould. While he 'destroys' the party, he also helps 'liberate' those attending it, revealed Darren Star, one of the movie's producers best known for the popular television sitcom Sex And The City. The film pays homage to the spirit of the 1960s and its tradition-breaking attitude, Star added.

The Party, a minor success in comparison to Sellers films like Dr Strangelove and The Pink Panther, was banned in India for some years. Some politicians protested the film caricatured Indians and showed them in absurd light. Only after editor Khushwant Singh intervened was the ban lifted.

Directed by Blake Edwards, who featured Sellers in the Pink Panther series, The Party showed Bakshi destroying an expensive movie set by his clumsiness .The producer's efforts in banning him fail. Bakshi shows up at an A-list party, because of a mistake by the producer's secretary, and creates more havoc.