Balki’s project with Big B, Aishwarya which didn’t take off

New Delhi, Jan 18 (IANS) Author Anand Suspi says filmmaker R. Balki wanted to work on a project with megastar Amitabh Bachchan and his daughter-in-law Aishwarya after reading the manuscript of his book "Half Pants, Full Pants", but it didn't materialise.

"Half Pants, Full Pants" is a collection of short stories, about a little boy growing up in sleepy Shimoga, Karnataka. His father is a station master, so there's a huge railway theme throughout the book. The book has been published by Paper Boat, marking the drinks brand's foray into publishing.

"Nearly five years ago, Balki was the first to read the entire manuscript. Something connected with him deeply and he is still the most ardent fan of these stories. He said that after 'Malgudi Days', he would love to see this on the small screen," Suspi said in a statement.

He added: "In fact, he had a plan brewing in his head and took two copies of the manuscript from me. One was for Amitabh Bachchan. He wanted a second copy for Aishwarya Rai since he felt she would enjoy and connect with the tales given her South Indian roots."

Suspi says Balki had an "interesting idea to promote this on the small screen and tried to put the whole project together".

"It wasn't that he would direct this. He 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 materialise and this didn't take off," he said.

Since the book has been published now, the author hopes that "there might be more people interested in adapting this to the small screen".