Richa Chadha is frank, funny and unbelievably real. Her wry sense of humour and knack of being politically incorrect can put an ace stand-up comic in the shade. Nikhil Dwivedi, her co-star in Tamanchey which releases today, is equally honest. In a candid chat with Bombay Times, it was their collective lack of diplomacy that left an indelible impression. Excerpts:

Your characters (Munna and Babu) in Tamanchey are unisex names...
Richa: Unisex names? (laughs) I take that very personally. I am a Chadha, there are lots of Shantis and Sherries in my family who are male. I have a cousin whose name is Munna didi. Also, if Rajinder can wed Rajinder, this too can happen. I play this girl, who is a petty criminal. She is surviving in a man's world. Babu is a pseudonym. Her name is something else, but she gets away with a lot (of crimes) because cops get confused ki yeh aadmi hai ke aurat!

The trailer reminds one of Ram Gopal Varma's Daud.
Richa: It's very flattering, but it's not that at all. Many people are drawing similarities with films like Bonnie And Clyde, Daud and Bunty Aur Babli. I don't think it's like any of them. It's a love story in the context of this gun-heavy, ganglord kind of place.

What do you think is the USP of this film?
Nikhil: It's quirky. You usually see love stories between a good boy and a good girl and how the world around them is slightly bad. This is a love story between a bad boy and a bad girl. There is no justification to what they do. Crime turns them on. You usually see that in films, people become criminals because they need money for maa ka ilaaj, but it's not the case here. They steal and con the world because they like it. They are not trustworthy; when they fall in love, they cannot even trust each other. There's a lot of dark humour. When they want to go on a date, they go loot a bank!
Richa: I do a lot of gareeb films, so I often travel to villages. If you go to small towns, what you see running in the cinema halls are not the latest Bollywood films but something like Phool Bane Angaray... quintessential love stories with guy, girl, villain and dishoom dishoom. I hope that aspect about this film appeals to people. It's like the movies we grew up watching.

So, how different is the romance between a bad boy and a bad girl from the routine love stories?
Richa: There are no pretensions here. They are quite honest with each other and don't go, 'Ji, agar aap bura na maane toh kya main aapka haath pakad loon?' They hold hands, walk and sing songs. They are criminals and warily rely on each other. I believe no matter how bad a person is, they must have a good side. So that way, the romance is quite interesting.

Speaking of cons, were you sweet and innocent as teenagers or were you mischievous?
Richa: I was not evil, but naughty. I used to mimic my teachers when I was in school. One day, few of us were suspended by the principal for a prank we didn't play. We got very upset. So, I called up my teachers, pretending to be one of them and told them that our principal had passed away. I also gave out details of his chautha. They all landed up at his home, only to find him hosing his car (laughs). But I am a reformed person today.

Can you mimic an actress?
Nikhil: Ask her to imitate Lata Mangeshkar.
Richa: Isn't it sacrilege to imitate Lata Mangeshkar? (Speaks like Lata didi) Kya sunna chahenge aap log? Once during an audition, they told me to imitate Madhuri, Hema Malini and Rekha. I think all actors do mimicry of some kind, consciously or unconsciously.

You have used words like saala zandu in the film. How many of the cuss words are from your personal vocabulary?
Richa: I may seem very chichora, but I am not. I went to St Stephens College and did honors in History. These dialogues are there in the film because these are two people who have a criminal background. This is how they talk.

How difficult was it for you two to shoot the lovemaking scene in the film?
Richa: I don't think we should kill the charm of lovemaking for the audience by telling them how we made it. But, I can say it's not fun, and it's not intimate at all. You need a minimum number of people to shoot the scene. I can say we shot ours in a unique, 'vegetarian' way. But you know, when you are trying to shoot the scene, you hear voices instructing you to look up, to place the thermacol here and the reflector there. It's very technical, it's choreographed.
Nikhil: It also depends on your personality. I'm shy, and I didn't want to do something that would not look nice on the screen or look very wrong.
Richa: Doing lovemaking scenes are the most difficult. We should look like we are having the time of our lives, when in fact, we are not. In fact, Nikhil and I shot the scene when we weren't even talking to each other properly! The scenes aren't suggestive, and as clichéd as it may sound, we have shot it aesthetically.

Did you seek each other's permission before going ahead with those scenes?
Richa: He told me he's going to place his hands on my shoulder.
Nikhil: At that time, it can't look like you are acting. Even if it's a slap, you have to tell the other person, 'main kaske ek maarne wala hoon', so that he is prepared. Even when you are falling down, the stunt master tells us to just fall and not defend ourselves with our palms. Same way, when it's a lovemaking scene, you must intimate your co-star so that they don't misunderstand your move.
Richa: Yeah, just to make sure that we know he is not letching and trying to score with me (laughs). I have a theory. People who don't get laid at the right time, take out all their frustrations when they become actors. I've heard this from an actress who had to ask her co-star to remove his hand from her shoulder after the intimate shot was done. If your co-star is not treating you with dignity, it's a kind of harassment.

You'd recently visited the Tihar jail..
Nikhil: It's well maintained by the inmates, is spick and span. It's cleaner than a five star hotel. It's probably the only prison where the jailors actually want the inmates to reform. It's a rehabilitation centre in its real sense.
Richa: They have a Tihar radio there. Most of the inmates double up as RJs, DJs, sculptors; they even have bands. They had called us to creatively and gainfully engage the prisoners. The DIG got emotional and told us that visitors are their only contact with the outside world.
Nikhil: What we loved the most is the handmade gifts the inmates gave us. They make paper bags from recycled materials, with their own logo - TJS. They gave us namkeen and biscuits that they made. They gifted us sweets from their own bakery, served everything themselves.

Describe your equation with each other.
Richa: I didn't like him for the first two years we worked together. Only now have I grown fond of him and understood him. He was so angry and impatient like a militant.
Nikhil: And she was too chilled out. It may not be the right observation, but I felt lack of discipline translated to lack of quality work. But, she was good when it came to her work. On set, I'm very organised and want to do everything according to schedule. But, she actually spends her time socialising with people there.
Richa: Yes, I knew everyone, right from the lightman, and used to hang out with everyone. But I also made sure I was not taken for a ride, that my work didn't lag. The only conversation I had with Nikhil would probably be 'hi, bye.'
Nikhil: But I can confidently say the audience won't even know we were hardly friends while working on the film, because the chemistry and co-ordination is like that.

So, how is your rapport now?
Richa: We are real friends now.But I don't think we will hang out together.
Nikhil: Somewhere, we discovered each other and realised what kind of people we are. And we became friends. Well, it's not like we became friends to promote the film.We could still not be talking and promote it.
Richa: Yes, I can be diplomatic and say 'Nikhil is amaaaaaaazing' (laughs). He is not my 4 am friend, but we can count on each other. He is not my best friend, but we are far more real friends that others who claim they are in the industry.

Describe your onscreen chemistry in one word.
Richa: Electric.
Nikhil: Like a tamancha - chalegi toh goli ke raftaar se chalegi, warna haath mein phat jayegi.