Tannishtha Chatterjee who is often referred by the Indian media as the Princess of Parallel Cinema is known for her power packed performances and has won many awards for her work. Tannishtha talks about her experiences about her working on the film Parched with Shaheen Raaj.

How did Parched happened to you?

Well! Actually Leena and I we were like good friends. We were thinking of doing something together. One day I was sitting with her having dinner and I told her a story which is the character I actually played in the film whom I had met during Dev Benegal’s film and she liked the story and she was like you take me to this whole region and I took her there where she met all the other women and then she wrote fast. That’s how it started.

Tell us about the character you portrayed in the movie?

I play Rani a 32 year old woman who is a widow. She became a widow when she was like 15 or 16 year old and it’s been many years since she has not had a man in her life. Her son is getting married now. So she has lived a very sought of strict life in terms of her desires & sexuality you know. That sought of a life. That’s where the story starts and then what happens to this character is something that you will see in the film.

You have been a part of a lots of film festivals. This is not the first time. Why not commercial Cinema?

Ask the commercial film directors this question. I want to do it. If there is a good role for me I am absolutely open to it.

Do you feel film festivals are a medium to push or celebrate this kind of cinema to tell the story you want to tell?

Absolutely I think that all kinds of films need some kind of validation. This kind of cinema which is you know arthouse or film festival type will definitely give a validation big well known film festivals. So yes they are a platform.

The film has been beautifully embraced by the people around the world and received several awards. What do you feel about it?

It’s fantastic and now I think like we are really excited to show it to the people about whom the film is. Set in India it is about India it is made with Indian actors & Indian director. Yaa we are very happy with all the validations that we have got across the globe. But I think the biggest validation that we can get is from our own country. We are very excited to show it to the Indian audience now.

Is there any dream role that you are waiting for?

Every role is a dream role and every next role is a dream role. I think there are so many media guys who ask this question many times. I think there are so many things that I want to do. There is not just one dream role. One dream role means that I want to get it over as an actor. I don’t like to think like that. I like to believe that there are many many things that I would like to do.

You have worked with several National & International directors. How was your experience so far?

I think Parched was very unique because Leena and I chucked the idea together as it was a story and idea that came from me. Then slowly Leena started writing and it became a film which is a collaborative process. It’s a very special experience because Leena allowed a lot of inputs from the actors then we improvised and explored a lot of things about all our characters.

One thing you want the people to take back home once they leave the theatre?

I think it’s something that it’s not one thing that’s why the film is about women & sexuality; desires & female bonding. There are many Issues that revolve around women. The film sort of talks about all those things through the different stories and I think that’s what everyone who comes to watch the film should take home, you know from the theatre. And one thing that star producer Ajay Devgan says that every man should watch the film.

How did you prepare for your character? Did you go through any research?

Like I said it was a very organic process because Rani’s story was a story which stayed with me for a very long time. I had met her even before Leena wrote the film and her eyes stayed with me and in the process of writing you know the every draft that Leena wrote we used to read & share notes . I don’t even know when I prepared. It was sort of becoming the character and of course in terms of the dialects & costumes and all those external things when we went to Kutch and there was Nain Rana who was a specialist of the dialect who incorporated a flavour of Kutchi dialect in our dialogues.

Do you feel the presence of cinematographer Russell Carpenter? Did it make a difference to the film?

Yes absolutely because he was like a dream cinematographer to work with as his presence was almost invisible. That is the most beautiful thing that a cinematographer can ever do. He never told us that this is your frame, you can move only this much and that’s all you can do. It’s like an actor dreams to work with such cinematographers where they don’t restrict you at all and they let you do whatever you want to do as a character and Russell was just capturing those moments. So it was a very beautiful experience.

“I didn’t want to make a sad film about women. I wanted to celebrate their spirit that makes us a wife and that gives us hope” says Leena Yadav about the project which she could make happen after so many struggles. Director Leena Yadav who talks about her internationally acclaimed upcoming film Parched.

Tell us about your upcoming film Parched?

What do you want to know (Laughs). It started off as a discussion with lots of women about varied issues and finally what I found very interesting was that I found that in the villages women speak much more freely about sex, much more evolved & honest than we do and we think we are more progressive in the cities. So just breaking that myth of you know that they are more backward and we are more progressive. But there is so much more honesty & reality there, so it started from there and then we had many more conversations with women than I wrote the first draft of the script and send it to my friends across the world and I realized that the subject matters that we were talking about in Parched had a universal reservance. My friends didn’t even react to it like a script they wrote back more stories that I know this women in New York. Her story is just like Lajjo’s story, or her story is just like Bijli’s story or Rani’s story. So that’s how the film started expanding. Two things happened one is that it starts getting more & more rooted in the village but in terms of the idea and what it was saying it expanded a lot.

Why the title Parched?

Parched means thirst. And initially since we were going to start with our film festivals I wanted the English title which people could connect with. So we got the name Parched. We always had the intention of keeping a Hindi name later whenever we would release in India but the thing is that Parched itself became a brand and people knew that whatever little awareness there was, it was about Parched so we didn’t want to change the name ultimately. So people are calling it Parche, Paarchad and then all kinds of things but its fine. I think we have introduced a new word into people’s vocabulary. But Parched was so correct for the story which was about thirst for freedom, thirst for sexuality and thirst for liberation.

So this is your 1st International film?

I don’t know what is an international film. It’s an Indian film which has traveled a lot internationally and released in lots of countries and got a great reaction.

What challenges you faced while capturing the essence & the beauty of a village?

They were not challenges. It was beautiful and one just wanted to do justice to it and we had such an amazing cinematographer Russell Carpenter who shot Titanic. The fact that he had never been to these kinds of villages there was such a unique thing for him so he saw that with a lot of love and he saw a lot of design in everything. So I think he brought that love that he felt for that visual into his visuals.

You traveled to an area Kutch in the west of India in Gujarat and striked a conversation with women about their lives there? Tell us one story that moved you to tears or that confirmed your decision of making this film?

So again & again I keep saying though I did start my research there. The research expanded to the whole of India. I got lots of stories from Mumbai also and from across the world. So Kutch was just the beginning of the story telling. The film is not rooted there. One such story I remember is about a women that we met who had a lot of bruises. And we were all sitting and having fun & laughing and I asked her does your husband beat you up? Why are you bruised? She says ahhh lets not talk about that we are having so much fun right now. Then I realized this is the spirit that I want to capture in my film. I don’t want to make a sad film about women. I want to celebrate this spirit that makes us a wife, that makes us hope.

The film has a lot of dark subjects but at the same time it is hopeful & lighter also? How did you balance that?

That’s because of that woman whom I met who told me that oh I don’t want to talk about that. It happens every day. We are having so much fun right now let’s have fun. And I think we are all like that. Just because we are going through a bad time does not mean we sit sadly at home. We try to find happiness. That’s what life is all about. It is a very difficult tone to create which is what everybody in the world over has reacted that you are saying so many dark things but you are saying with so much of lightness & celebration. That we have never seen such a combination. So while scripting it also I was very apprehensive because you have a scene where that girl is being beaten and in the next scene she is laughing with her friends. But I wanted that so it was very tricky and I didn’t know till the end whether it will work but it obviously did work.

How did you convinced your cinematographr Russell Carpenter to come on board?

I had sent my script to Russell’s partner Donna who is also a novelist, a beautiful writer. Russell ended up reading the script and he reacted very sensitively to the script. He was very encouraging and he says films like this need to be made. I don’t think we could have afforded Russell Carpenter. It’s not that kind of a budget film. He was very gracious enough to afford us because he reacted so beautifully to the content. So anybody in the film has actually come on board because of the script.

How was the experience of working with him?

Outstanding. I say the least. It was an extremely learning experience for me. I have done my 1st two films with my husband who is also a brilliant cinematographer. But this time since Aseem was going to produce the film. He said I don’t think I should be doing both the roles together. So I was very upset with that because we have a great working relationship. And he said I will bring somebody on the job who I admire so you will not have any reason to complain. And he managed to get Russell carpenter to do the film. So it is amazing.

What challenges did you face while making the project?

I faced many challenges like I remember going to a lot of villages whenever they saw me. They said we won’t allow you to shoot here. Because they said if more women like you come here, our women will get corrupted. Because they will see women can be like this also. They don’t have to put a ghunghat and hide behind a man. So they were very threatened by this female presence. They were not happy to let their women see this side of women. So I was rejected from lots & lots of villages till we finally found a village in Rajasthan where we shot the film. Starting from that I think every film has challenges not just on a big scale but also on a day to day level. So we had all those challenges. Also shooting completely in the back & beyond in a village where people are not very familiar with shooting happening. But I had such a brilliant team that I think we just moved beyond the challenges. We were all so passionate about wanting to make the film.

Your husband and you invested all your life savings into the film. It was a kind of gamble. Tell us about that?

This is the most beautiful gamble that I have done in my life. I think once you started nothing could have stopped us. I think once in your life when you find “The” thing that is coming from the heart and which has all your honesty in it. I think you have to put everything up at stake.

How did you get Bollywood actor & director Ajay Devgan to support you when so many people were not ready to finance this kind of cinema?

Aseem has worked a lot with Ajay over the years and I also have the fortune of knowing him. At one point I was writing a script which he was going to direct which never happened finally. So we have been interacting with him over the years. There is a lot of love & mutual respect between us. So I think Aseem spoke to him initially that we are going to do this. I am sure he thought it was the craziest thing we were doing by making this film with no support & nothing. So he came on board and said if I can be of help. Not only did he come on board but he also gave the seed money to start pre-production and said tell people I am associated with the project so that it will give the project a little more weight. And then we found Investors like Gulab Singh Tanwar & Rohan Jagdale who are not traditional film people. They are private investors who actually came on board because they believed in the vision of this film and they believed that this film should be made. So actually we attracted all the right energies & the right people into this project who from the time had come on board they just have been a huge amount of support to all of us.

Your journey was not easy, it was full of thorns and now the film is finally releasing. People all over the world are appreciating it. So how do you feel about it?

On top of the world ( Laughs). It feels like everything was worth it. That’s why when you asked me about the challenges. I know when I was living it they were big mountains we were climbing every day. But now when I look back seeing when you reach a rightful and deserving end to something you really forget you know memories are very interesting. When you are living it, it’s the worst thing that is happening to you. But when you reach a better space you say it was not that difficult. Similarly with Parched I know we climbed a lots of mountains to make the film but like I said because we had the most beautiful team & the most beautiful support from all the producers. It does not feel like we had too much of a problem now. Because of all the love we have got across the world.

The audience these days is very impatient. What all efforts did you make to get them hooked or engaged onto the screen?

I didn’t do anything. I have not made this film keeping the audience in mind and keeping anything & everything in mind. I have made a really honest film from my heart and from all our hearts. Because film is a very collaborative process. It’s not one person’s journey. It is so many people’s journey. So we have just put in our best and I think now I can say it is not a gamble anymore for me. Because I have seen this film with audiences across half the world literally. I have been travelling for a whole year with this. I am very confident. This film speaks to people. If this film speaks to people in Sweden who have nothing to do with our culture and people come out saying this is my story how can it not speak to audience in India.

Are film festivals a better way to promote such kind of Cinema?

Not promote. I would say it is educating for a filmmaker to be able to go and see your own product from another perspective. So firstly it is an educating journey for the makers to see the product which is so rooted from a small gaon ki kahani from India. But somebody across the world the way people are reacting to it. So it makes you realize that films can actually transcend all boundaries of language and everything else. Because it’s a pure language of emotions. So if you connect with that you could be watching a Turkish Film and feel that it is happening in your backyard. And yes it creates awareness and you can realize that the world is a really small place.

When people leave the theatre after watching the film. What do you want them to take back home?

I want them to discuss things amongst themselves. Our film is not at all a blame game. The villain in the film is our conditioning. Things that we have just accepted generations after generations. For example a daughter-in-law who gets ill treated by her mother-in-law the moment she becomes a mother-in-law she does the same things to her daughter-in-law. We need to break those cycles. Come out and talk about it honestly. Like it or hate it. Just discuss it & come out of it. Celebrate yourselves as human beings beyond any specified gender of men & women. Let’s all just unite in humanity.

K. Asif’s Mughal-E-Azam starring Prithviraj Kapoor, Dilip Kumar & Madhubala, which was the most expensive film made at the time (in 1960), is still considered the greatest Indian motion picture ever made.

Acclaimed director Feroz Abbas Khan, known for his award-winning film Gandhi, My Father and successful plays like Tumhari Amrita, Salesman Ramlal & Mahatma VS Gandhi, will soon helm Mughal-E-Azam, a Broadway-style musical play, which will be a tribute to the original film and is being prepared on a grand scale to be performed at the NCPA (National Centre For Performing Arts), where it will play daily from21st Oct, 2016 till 1st week of Nov, 2016 for a limited engagement of 2 weeks followed by the staging in the end of Nov, 2016 for another 2 weeks into Dec, at Siri Fort Auditorium in New Delhi and later on in other Metro Cities.

The musical play will not only be made on a grand scale like the film, but will also feature 8 songs from the film to be performed as part of the narrative! Needless to say, this project will be the grandest musical live theatrical production witnessed in India and is expected to set a new benchmark for Indian theatre.

Director Feroz Abbas Khan avers, “Mughal-E-Azam is apt because even the film was inspired by a play, Anarkali, which K. Asif saw and borrowed passages of dialogues from. It’s a dramatic father-son story with the nation at stake. In its writing skills & mounting, it was close to perfection with great dialogues & emotional story-telling, complemented by eye-catching visuals and a terrific musical score.”

The upcoming musical has another connection with the original cult classic, the musical play will be co-produced by none other than Shapoorji Palanji, the 150 year old business conglomerate that had funded K. Asif’s Mughal-E-Azam with a budget of 3 million dollars in 1960, making it the most expensive film made at the time.

Apart from Feroz Abbas Khan, other names attached to this ambitious project are costume designer Manish Malhotra, award-winning lighting designer David Lander, Emmy award nominee projection designer John Narun, production designer Neil Patel & choreographer Mayuri Upadhya.

Banner: Sohail Khan Production
Producer & Director: Sohail Khan
Star Cast: Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Arbaaz Khan, Asif Basra, Amy Jackson, Niketan Dheer, Seema Biswas, Jas Arora & Jackie Shroff
Music: Sajid Ali – Wajid Ali

There have been films galore on sports. Perhaps the audience has had too many films based on cricket. So director Sohail Khan’s, who needs no special introduction,
latest offering Freaky Ali based on the game of golf, basically known as a rich man’s game, comes as a whiff of fresh air.

The scripted scenario of Freaky Ali kick starts with Ali (Nawazuddin Siddiqui) being brought up in the by lanes of Mumbai. He is an adopted orphan who tries to make his living by doing odd jobs like selling male undergarments. When his engagement breaks because of his image as a salesman and he sees tears in the eyes of the one woman he loves the most, his mother (Seema Biswas), Ali decides to turn rich by hook or by crook. He joins hands with his bestie Maqsood (Arbaaz Khan), a small-time gangster working under Sohail Khan aka Danger Bhai (Niketan Dheer) to extort money. Besides this, Ali is passionate about just one sport, cricket and even wins the challenge of scoring sixes at every ball during a gully-cricket match. During one of his extortion assignments, he decides to take up a golfing challenge and ends up victorious and he is spotted by Kishan Lal (Asif Basra), his neighbour & family well-wisher who believes that Ali’s talent can create wonders in the world of golf. As his destiny takes him towards a new way of life, with new goals & dreams. Ali then comes across new friends & love, Megha (Amy Jackson), he also makes new enemies like Vikram Rathod (Jas Arora). What follows is a series of matches where Ali has to prove his worth to his coach Kishan Lal while dealing with the success-obsessed Vikram Rathod and a man with selfish motives, Danger Bhai, who would go to any lengths to ensure the defeat of Ali at the tournament, even if it means turning his loved ones against him.

Sohail Khan has proved his directorial metle time & again by giving us some of the best & daringly different movies and once again he has brought to light the game of golf in his latest sports adventure movie namely Freaky Ali and he deserves full credit for that. But even Freaky. Ali has all the plus and minus points. The scripting work of Raaj Shandiliya & Sohail Khan is the main stay of Freaky Ali.

Performance wise Freaky Ali is an out & out Nawazuddin Siddiqui’s film and he has delivered a par excellence act, that too 1st time in a full length comical avatar and for which his comic timing in tandem with Arbaaz Khan is seen to be believed. Arbaaz Khan is perfect. Amy Jackson is impressive. Senior actors like Seema Biswas & Jackie Shroff in a cameo are good. While actors like Niketan Dheer, Jas Arora & Asif Misra deserve a special mention for their overall perfection in their justified act.

Tail Piece: Freaky Ali is roller coaster ride of fun & entertainment. In fact Freaky Ali is, a not to be missed, interesting sports adventure film.

Producers: Neha Rajpal & Akash Rajpal
Director: Vijay Maurya
Star Cast: Chetan Chitnis, Parna Pethe, Vandana Gupte, Dr. Girish Oak, Jaywant Wadkar, Anshuman Joshi, Manmeet Pem, Aashay Kulkarni & Vandana Gupte
Genre: Romantic Comedy
Ratings***

First things first singer turned debutant producer Neha Rajpal in lieu with Akash Rajpal, who has also penned the story with Omkar Mangesh Dutt, deserves a well-deserved pat on their back for coming up with a breezy entertainer like Photocopy which is like a welcome change for the Marathi Cinema audience.

Madhu (Parna Pethe) & Mala (Parna Pethe in a double role) are the two identical twin sisters studying in college. Needless to add that Madhu is a big time prankster while Mala is a typical book worm type girl. In due course Mala meets Sameer (Chetan Chitnis) in a quiz competition and slowly and steadily they both fall in love and then begins the confusion. As both Mala and Madhu fall in love with Sameer, who till the end due to varied circumstances does not realise that he is actually dating both the sisters and the sisters too do not know that either.

Although Photocopy sounds like a typical Bollywood film, yet it is the directorial treatment of Vijay Maurya and his interesting screenplay that keeps the audience interest alive in the whole proceedings. That apart Maurya’s technical team also deserves due credit. Amongst the actors the film solely belongs to Parna Pethe who has delivered a par excellence act in her dual role. Chetan Chitnis is perfect as the confused lover. Seasoned actors Vandana Gupte & Dr. Girish Oak are hilarious. A special mention must also be made of the gang of college friends.

Photocopy is indeed a must watch film at least once.

Producers: Bhavana Bipin Shah & Sarika Vinod Tambe
Director: Shantanu Anant Tambe
Star Cast: Hansraj Jagtap, Akash Waghmode, Mitali Mayekar, Sandeep Gaikwad, Nisha Parulekar, Ashok Pawde, Namrata Jadhav, Janardan Singh and debutant’s Ashish Gade, Sumit Bhokse & Shreyas Raje
Genre: Social

Rating**

The reformation of street kids and hooligans is an oft repeated theme and nothing special to be raved about. Yet Yaari Dosti comes with a fresh story depicting today’s adolescence and their vision towards true friendship and life.

The films revolves around four boys, two school boys namely Prasad and Rahul from affluent families and the other two strangely named Naala and Kachra are alcoholic and hooligans to the core. In a chain of incidents they become close friends. What follows is a roller coaster ride of hilarious and emotional moments with unexpected twists and turns that changes their lives forever.

Sadly enough the directorial treatment of Shantanu Anant Tambe leaves much to be desired. To top it the first half of Yaari Dosti simply drags on and on. While the second half generates some interest. All the actors old and new are good to some extent. Even the award winning actor Hansraj Jagtap, Akash Waghmode and Mitale Mayekar of Urfi fame are handicapped due to the hackneyed script.

Yaari Dosti is certainly not the mass audience’s cup of tea but it may impress the festival circuit audience.

Rakesh Bedi is a veteran Indian Film, stage & television actor. He is best known for his comic roles in Chashme Buddoor, Shrimaan Shrimati & Yes Boss. Shaheen Raaj Sahdev met up with Rakesh Bedi who is passionate about theatre as it gives a lot of tangents to his creativity which keeps on itching him to do something new.

Coming to Mumbai for an acting career without a Godfather! Was it an easy decision?

No it wasn’t and it never is for anybody. Because you are going into a black hole and you don’t know whether there is some light at the end of the tunnel. The only thing which you can have with yourself is your talent & confidence. By talent I mean a very hard core & purely self assessed talent. Just because you think that you are a good actor you can act or just because you think that some people have liked your performance somewhere, just because you think you are very handsome and you know acting and you are the king of acting, all those things really don’t work. You have to have a very balanced mind & a pure self analytical mind where you know where you stand.

What challenges you faced in Mumbai?

The challenges initially were many. The basic challenge at that time was that there was only one medium. It was cinema, theatre was not there as such. It was there but not paying so you could not survive on theatre. You can’t survive on television at all. So the only thing was cinema. And cinema was a monopoly of a few big producers and a lot of other people also but then you have to go & you have to meet & you have to struggle. First you have to struggle for role and then struggle to make contacts than you get the role than you struggle to do it and than you struggle to get money from the producers. These challenges were there and then to survive in this city without any external help has always been a very tough task.

You got recognization with the film Chashme Buddoor in 1981? What was the difference before and after it?

I won’t say extremely amazing. See today what happens is that the marketing tools are many. That time there were no marketing tools. Suppose I have done a good film how do I tell people. They have to only see it that’s all. I cannot tell them. Like you send a message across and it reaches millions of people. Put on facebook it reaches millions of people in seconds. That time the only way to show my work was that somebody should come & see my film. So the difference was there. I am not saying not there. But it was not that you know I say something like a rocket, something very sensational. The difference was there. But It was slow & gradual.

Is Media Industry stereotypical?

I think in India that’s how the industry has survived. Over the last 70’s, 80’s, & 90’s decade whatever we have been in this industry that’s how it has survived. Because cinema has slightly changed a bit in the last 1 decade where a lot of new talent has come in now, a lot of new thoughts & subjects are being made which are not stereotyped and which are not stencil cut. The formula films you know hero, heroine, hero’s sister will be raped and the villain, the heroine in the songs around the trees and the climax and the chase and a happy family photograph. There are thousands of films made on this formula. And plus a comedian & a comedian’s girlfriend also. So these were the ingredients which were almost there in so many films. But we got rid of that kind of cinema. I will say somewhere in the middle of 90’s and the early 2000, people were able to make cinema of their mind & of their taste. But still what happens is the media industry preliminary remains stereotyped. Because you know what happens is that everybody wants to make a hit film like a film which has been a hit. If you notice now Sultan is a big hit suddenly you will see some things coming on Kushti, some serials have been made on Kushti. Television has gone into Kushti suddenly. Pehle Kushti kyu nahi yaad aayi abhi kyu yaad aayi. Yeh stereotypical hi hai naa tabhi yaad aayi. Kuch apne dekha kuch chala toh aapko laga ki, Saas Bahu chala tha to so saas bahu was there on every channel. Abhi saap aur sapni chal raha hai uski TRP jyaada aa rahi hai so everybody is trying to make something on snake. So it has always been there in the industry.

How you been able to cope up with stereotyping?

I haven’t been able to cope up with it much. I could not rather. That’s why I do theatre. Because all my feelings, all my emotions, all my talent which is there inside me not only my acting talent even my writing talent my all kinds of energies I can channelize them in theatre I can experiment with myself in theatre. So I know in cinema they will give me a stereo cut role because for my kind of body, my kind of looks they are going to give a role of a hero’s friend or a comedian. They are not going to give me a main lead. So I am aware of these things. So that’s why I have a lust I mean when I came to Mumbai I was doing theatre even before joining FTII not that I started theatre only after coming to Mumbai. I was doing theatre before I joined FTII in Delhi. Then I joined FTII then again came here and joined theatre. So I have never left theatre for a simple reason that it gives a lot of tangents to my creativity.

Theatre gives you nothing as compared to films. So how did you manage your theatre with films?

The kind of theatre we do in IPTA does not give much at all. Much kya it does not give anything at all. It does not even give the conveyance along with all the rehearsals put in together. But it gives a lot of satisfaction. Then there are some kinds of commercial theatre also like my new play “Mera Woh Matlab Nahi Tha” with Anupam Kher & Neena Gupta which I have written & directed. It is doing wonders around the world. Even for IPTA’s play when we do commercial plays for some organisations we charge them reasonably.

Actor, writer, director & teacher. What do you enjoy the most?

All. I can’t say that I enjoy one portion more and other portion less. I enjoy everything in equal proportions. I love teaching also. A lot of people come to me to get trained.

You have worked in diverse spaces? How did you manage your personal life with so many mediums?

There is a famous saying that goes “where there is a will there is a way”. If you just say nahi nahi theatre ke liye time nahi milega, theatre se kya milne wala hai, theatre ke liye time nikalna mushkil hai. Time kabhi nikalega hi nahi. Maine toh apne career mein yeh dekha hai 35 – 40 saal ho gaye mujhe kaam karte hue. I have always been on stage. I don’t think there has been a single month in my life in the last 35 – 37 – 38 years whatever it is or may be 40 also when I have not been on stage for a single month for some play or the other.

What motivated you in delivering performances in diverse spaces?

Creativity. It keeps on itching me to do something new and it keeps on telling me come on go. For example my solo play “Massage”. It’s not a joke to do a monologue. That too something written by Vijay Tendulkar. He is not basically a comic writer. He is a very deep writer with very strong contents messages. And I chose the play because I saw the ingredients in it. So I saw if I give it my point of view it will be a hit. It can run it can appeal to the audiences. That’s what I did. It’s still running for the last 13 years. Just recently I had a show in Delhi. It was a houseful and a rocking show.

Audiences today have less patience level. How do you keep the audiences hooked on to the show?

Exactly! They have less patience level. So the content has to be stronger that’s the only answer. The moment you give them a little bit of lee way, a little bit of gap, a little bit of you know you can say uninteresting portion of the content and they will go away. They have their mobile to go away and they have their entire world in their mobile. They can connect to the data in seconds. So the secret is not to give them time. For example “Massage” is my solo play but I can say with so much of confidence that in 2 hrs time nobody can even see the watch once.

When working on a project as an actor with another director, how does the director inside you cope up?

That’s nothing. That’s very easy. You know who is the Captain of the Ship. So If something comes to my mind I definitely suggest the director. I suggest him this should be done this way. Can I say this line, can I improvise here or whatever it is. You can say it only twice or thrice. If he does not take it he doesn’t want to take it. It’s his call ultimately.

You have done a lot of comedy roles. But you have a much more serious side to you. Tell us about that?

Everybody has a serious side to oneself. I always believe that see what happens when comedy also does not make people laugh. Making people laugh is a purpose with a message with a little bit of pathos which goes deep inside the psyche of the audiences. If there is a play and there is a lot of laughter in it but only at the surface level. Like there are entry, there are exits, there are some mistaken identities. Things like that. A lot of plays running like that. But then they don’t have a life. You can’t go & see them twice. Because you are not taking home anything. The play should be such that where you are able to take home something, where it stays with you. I have people who have seen “Massage” 7 times 8 times over the period of 12 – 13 years. I know people who have seen “Shatranj Ke Mohre” 27 times. I have seen a man watched “Shatranj Ke Mohre” 27 times. Can you beat it? It is running for the past 40 years ofcourse. I know a person who has seen “Mera Woh Matlab Nahi Tha” which is running with the past 1 odd year only around 5 times. Why these plays? Why not other plays because they say something they keep you engrossed and you are not engrossed till the time of the play you are mentally occupied even when you go home, may be when you get up the next day. So it questions you and your mind.

Today stand up comedy is taking centre stage of the national television. What do you feel about this changed media scenario?

It’s okay, change is imperative. Change has to happen. I have nothing against it. It’s fine some people are making money what’s wrong with it but it should be neat. It should be clean. I don’t like making people laugh at the cost of others I don’t like demeaning somebody and than creating a laughter. I feel that it is a short cut to laughter. You can’t think of anything concrete & anything creative you just demean somebody and tries to make others laugh. And such people I have seen in my life, they cannot laugh at themselves if somebody else cracks a joke on them they get very hurt. They love laughing on other people but they cannot take a joke on themselves. Where as my policy is that you should be your own first victim. A good comedian’s first victim should be he himself. He should be able to laugh at himself and make people laugh at himself. That’s what I feel.

Tell us about your latest venture Y. A. R. O. Ka Tashan’? Tell us about your character?

It’s a show on Sab Tv coming at 7:30 in the evening. It’s a very sweet character so I liked the concept. There is one professor. He has a wife and wife doesn’t have a kid. He is a Robotics professor and a scientist. His wife is after him. Please I need a kid so he says okay I create a kid in my lab. He makes a Robo which is almost human. He can think he keeps on uploading his data from time to time making him in sync with the surrounding. He creates this. It’s a happy family. He goes on creating some mischief outside and the professor keeps on correcting him taking the blame on himself.

Banner: M A Entertainment & Trinity Films
Producers: Ali Unwala & Mudal Unwala
Director: Anwer Khan
Star Cast: Arbaaz Khan, Jimmy Shergill, Devanshu, Pooja Chopra, Bruna Abdullah, Maushami Udeshi, Zarina Wahab, Vijay Patkar et al
Music: Avishek Majmudar & Badri Lacewala

Director Anwer Khan’s earlier debutante outing in Four Two Ka One, not to be confused with SRK’s earlier film one Two ka Four, was nothing much too rave about or rather Anwer Khan’s totally forgettable directorial debut, that was almost half a decade ago. And now with his latest offering Yea Toh Two Much Ho Gaya he has religiously albeit blindly followed in the footsteps of his directorial Guru namely the late Man Mohan Desai so much so that he has even named his identical twin brothers character as Man (Jimmy Shergill) & Mohan (again Jimmy Shergil). Need I say anything more?
The scripted scenario kicks off with Man (Jimmy Shergill) having a great time with his girl friend Mina (Bruna Abdullah) in Thailand. So what if, as he claims, he had gone there to become something. Never mind! Mohan (again Jimmy Shergill) lives with his mother (Zarina Wahab) in a village in India and he does not have any work except fighting off people with his lath (Bamboo Stick) and even he too is romancing with his girl friend Tina (Pooja Chopra) much to the chagrin of her brother Chaudhary (Murli Sharma) who in turn is having a rollicking affair with another village woman (Mausami Udeshi). In Thailand Man has an altercation with the Don Mack’s (Arbaaz Khan) brother (Devanshu), beats him black & blue and clicks a selfie with him and sends it to the don. Then Man leaves Thailand and comes to India. While to escape a rape charge Mohan leaves India and lands up in Thailand and thence begins a rollicking journey of fun & frolic.

Kudos to director Anwer Khan for packing in every commercial potboiler ingredient to make Yea Toh Two Much Ho Gaya a real mass entertainment splash. Which bears the typical MKD films stamp in each & every scene or rather frame of the film. So go ahead watch the film leaving your brains behind at home a la the Govinda – David Dhawan flicks.

Performance wise Jimmy Shergill & Vijay Patkar, both in their career best 1st time ever dual roles of their career, steal your heart. Next in line Arbaaz Khan has made tall claims that this film will prove to be a turning point of his career. Really! Yea Toh Two Much Ka Bhi Much Much ho Gaya!!! While amongst the girls Pooja Chopra gives a lively performance added with a lot of spunk, Bruna Abdullah cannot act for nuts as Jimmy Shergill keeps reminding her constantly in the film in the garb of her Hindi diction and Maushami Udeshi too seems to be the die – hard fan of Bruna Abdullah in the histrionics department.

Tail Piece: All said & done Yea Toh Two Much Ho Gaya is a well – intentioned film for the masses.