“My Film ‘Paisa Ho Paisa’ Is A Road Movie, A Romantic Comedy Imbibed With A Roller Coaster Joyride And A Jolly Good Movie.” – Muktha Sundar
by Shaheen Raaj
Muktha Sundar, hailing from Chennai, is a reputed South Indian writer-director-producer having made almost half a dozen films out there including his latest comedy hit film ‘Pathayeram Kodi’, which means “10 Thousand Crores”. And now he is all set to make his bow into the Hindi film firmament with yet again a comedy film named ‘Paisa Ho Paisa’, whose impending release is just round the corner.
Tell us briefly about your film background
I hail from a filmic family of South India. Till this date my family production house has produced more than a golden jubilee films helmed by my father Muktha Srinivasan, who had a penchant for making comedy films. And as far as I m concerned I think even my forte is making comedy films. You see Mr. Shaheen Raaj even I was interested in cinema since I was that high. So after completing my academic qualifications and before venturing into filmmaking I took a formal training in filmmaking by doing my Masters from the American Film Institute in Los Angeles. Till this date I have written, produced & directed 7 films. ‘Pathayeram Kodi’ in Tamil is my latest hit film. And now I am all set to enter Bollywood with my latest film in Hindi namely ‘Paisa Ho Paisa’ which I would describe as a semi sci-fi thriller comedy which is going to be released very soon.
So what is your film ‘Paisa Ho Paisa’ all about?
My latest film ‘Paisa Ho Paisa’ in Hindi is all about an engineering college student named Ashwin who meets a beautiful girl named Bhoomika in the college campus. After a few playful encounters, they fall in love. Ashwin hails from a lower middle class family and all the time he thinks of making big money in a very short time. When Bhoomika stumbles upon something big, she consults Ashwin and his friends and together they strike it rich in a very big way by using an invisible chemical (A chemical when it is sprayed on anything or anyone the object or the person becomes invisible). However they are forced to be on the run after being chased by the cops. Now starts the wild goose chase with ruthless & buffoonery gangsters, comic cops, bungling CBI officer and the hero and his friends playing all kinds of pranks. The chase & the laugh riot continues all the way from Pondicherry to Sani Singhnapur crossing 4 state borders with innumerable comic situations.
What are the highlights of ‘Paisa Ho Paisa’?
The climax of ‘Paisa Ho Paisa’ has been shot inside Sani Singhnapur Temple. Besides it has also been shot in the exotic locations of Karwar, Goa, Mercara, Pune, Ahmednagar, Mahabaleshwar & Panchagani. The movie has a running time of 1 hour & 45 minutes with 4 songs. Close to 30 minutes of computer graphics work has also been done in the movie. It is a road movie, a romantic comedy imbibed with a roller coaster joyride and a jolly good movie without any boring moments. I shot the film in 65 days but its computergraphics work alone took us almost 85 days in India itself. And let me clear one point that it is certainly not based or inspired by a Bollywood film namely ‘Mr. India’.
Give us some info about the cast & crew of ‘Paisa Ho Paisa’
‘Paisa Ho Paisa’ has been written, produced & directed by me under the banner of Maayaa Creation’s. Besides the other credits of the film are executive producer is V. Vishwanathan, cinematography by Rajkumar, art direction by Vijayanand & music by Manoj, G. D. Prasad & Nirojan. The starcast of the movie comprises of Dhruv Bhandari, Madalasa Shah, Kanishka Soni, Vivek, Antony et al.
It seems that your lead cast namely Dhruv Bhansari & Madalasa Shah played traunt during the promotions of ‘Paisa Ho Paisa’. Comment.
You see making a film in Tamil is quite different from making a film in Hindi. Hindi films have wider reach of audiences all over and they are more colourful. Down South film industry is more organized & more disciplined which is sadly missing in Hindi film arena. And the actors are not much interested in promoting their own films. But of couse there are exceptions to the rule yey certainly not in case of the actors of my film.
So what are the next film on your agenda?
Close on the heels of the release of ‘Paisa Ho Paisa’ I will immediately announce my next Hindi film. That apart I am also busy in making my next Tamil film named ‘Sivappu’ starring Raj Kiran in the title role albeit this time I am making an artistic and not a commercial film.
‘Paisa Ho Paisa’ is all set to release on 13th Mar 2015. It has story, screenplay, dialogues & direction by Muktha Sunder. The other credits of the movie are executive producer is Vishwanathan, cinematography by Rajkumar, art direction by Vijayanand & music by Manoj, G. D. Prasad & Nirojan. The starcast of the movie comprises of Dhruv Bhandari, Madalasa Shah, Kanishka Soni, Vivek, Antony et al.
