Johnny Baweja happens to be a dynamic & handsome dude who is making his debut with a very sensuously crafted murder mystery named A Scandall which is releasing this week. But Johnny Baba begs to differ when A Scandall is inadvertently referred to as a sexually oriented sleazy film. He avers, “I fail to understand why everyone is trying to judge a book by its cover, I mean they are just making an assumption that A Scandall is a sexy & a sleazy film which on the contrary it is not. In short A Scandall is a whodunit albeit coming of age murder mystery cum super natural thriller.”
So what is your debut film A Scandall all about?
As I have already mentioned before A Scandall is not at all a sexy or a sleazy film. It is a coming of age, murder mystery cum super natural thriller. And yes my film A Scandall too has a tag line. Everyone has one and we cannot run away from it. The film sets out to talk about sex, incest & of course scandals. Which is surely going to raise everyone’s eyebrows, yet I would call A Scandall an introspective, thought provoking albeit an entertaining film too. And the credit for making such an interesting & entertaining film goes to director Ishan Trivedi who has earlier directed films like Radio & Saade Saath Phere. And in his hat trick film A Scandall he definitely is going to hit the Bull’s Eye.
Now tell us briefly about your interesting role in A Scandall?
Of course I found my role in A Scandall a very interesting albeit an entertaining one too. So in A Scandall I have enacted the role of a man named Vidhu, who happens to be a film making student. Now to discuss about his characteristics, he happens to be very bold, straight forward albeit an honest young guy. On the surface Vidhu may look like a bad guy as his character has a grey shade to it. But then honestly speaking, who isn’t mean in real life? Everyone is mean because everyone thinks of only himself or herself and no one does only charity all the time.
How did you tackle such a tough role in your debut film A Scandall that too with such an effortless ease?
I will not mince word as I totally agree with you that indeed enacting the role in A Scandall was extremely tough. That apart right at the outset I would like to clarify that to enact the role of Vidhu was really difficult especially because I was sailing in not just one but two different boats, namely producing the film A Scandall as well as acting in it. Besides A Scandall I had earlier acted in a film called Swan for producer T. P. Aggarwal who has been my mentor all along and supported me very well. But yes technically A Scandall can be termed as my debut film as it has been released first while T. P. Sir’s Swan will be released very soon. In fact I would say that every film has its own individual destiny. Swan was made entirely for film festival circuit all over the globe and it has already participated in Mexico, Berlin & Miami amongst other film festivals and has won several awards and has garnered rave reviews. But of course at some places it was rejected and at some places it was selected.
How did you bag the offer of A Scandall?
Now it so happened that I bumped into director Ishaan Trivedi at someone else’s office when he was busy working on the script of a film. When he asked me if I would like to act in his film, I listened to the narration and told him that I would love to do the film which was then in its writing stage, because as an actor, I would love to be part of some film which has a social cause and was not just a run of the mill story. The film did not take off then but when Ishaan finished writing the subject of A Scandall, he asked me to play the lead.
Johnny, you belong to a filmy family of Bollywood then how come your uncle the most prominent producer & director Harry Baweja never offered to launch you as an actor, so much so that you had to turn a producer to launch yourself as an actor?
Be that as it may but tell me sir why should I ask my uncle to launch me as an actor, even though the fact remains that my father had produced Trinetra which had launched my uncle as a director. Besides you seem to have forgotten one fact that T. P. Sir had already given me a break in his film Swan so what if it has done the rounds of only the film festival circuits till this date. And I would also love to clarify one thing specifically that though I have nothing against my uncle Harry Baweja, the fact is that every father would like to cast his own son and my uncle is no exception to the rule.
So what was the reason for your uncle Harry Baweja & Cousin Harman Baweja to distance themselves from you when an MMS of your film was leaked all over?
It happens, it’s their choice. I have nothing more to comment on this topic.
Ok tell me how was it like working with Reet Mazumdar, your leading actress in A Scandall?
She is very good both as an actress & as a co – star too. In fact I have known Reet now for a long time ever since we were cast together in Swan too, though it was Ishaan Trivedi who cast Reet in A Scandall. Earlier he was to direct a film with Reet but the film did not materialize but he remembered her when he decided to launch A Scandall.
And how was it working with your director Ishaan Trivedi?
To describe him in just one word he is fabulous. I really loved working with him both as a producer and as an actor too.
So what’s next on your agenda?
Sir believe me I am not the kind of actor who would keep on boasting that I have signed half a dozen films and that I am currently in talks with a few more producers. In fact I want people in the industry as well as the audiences to see me in my film A Scandall and then I will take a call about which film to do next.
