As filmmaker Anurag Kashyap’s Black Friday completes 15 years, actor Aditya Srivastava recalls how tough a period it was for them when the film was facing release problems. The film premiered at the 2004 Locarno International Film Festival and was supposed to release the same year in India. However, after a petition filed by a group accused of the 1993 Mumbai bomb blasts challenging the film’s release, Bombay High Court issued a stay. It finally hit cinemas on February 9, 2007.

“The mileage that it would have got with an immediate release would have been great. But that didn’t happen. It is sad that hume uss waqt se guzarna pada. Had it released [when it was supposed to], the film would have benefitted more, but the delay hampered it,” shares Srivastava.

Calling it a milestone in his career, the actor says, “It was an important film for me. When it was planned, I wasn’t meant for the role of Badshah Khan, I think Kay Kay (Menon) or Naseer bhai (Naseeruddin Shah) was supposed to do. Somehow it came to me.”

Based on the 1993 blasts, the film was a rather sensitive story. But Srivastavs says he had no apprehensions as he had complete faith in Kashyap.

“I believed in Anurag Kashyap, that he would pull it off. No one can deny his talent. As an actor, you look for good script and good roles, and that is how it was for me. The ensemble was so interesting. It was a dream role for me,” he concludes.

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Black Friday is a film very close to Pavan Malhotra’s heart. The actor, who played the role of Tiger Memon in it, found it a difficult one, but he is happy that people have often told him that he totally nailed the role.

Talking about the prep for the Anurag Kashyap-directed film which chronicles the events that led to the 1993 bombings in Mumbai, and the subsequent police investigation, Malhotra says, “I had the script first. Anurag told me to read Hussain Zaidi’s book Black Friday: The True Story of the Bombay Bomb Blasts. He said that the script was very close to the book and it would help me build the character.”

However, the actor still tried to get in touch with people who knew Memon. “Someone who said he knew Memon and said he was flamboyant and liked to dress well. And that he used to eat supari... After the film released, people told me that I played the role to a T. I was exactly how he was. I hadn’t met Memon, and yet cracking the role and people appreciating it even today is a big compliment for me.”

Malhotra says that his role, despite not having many scenes in the film, left a massive impact. “Memon ka role sabse kam hai in terms of scenes. But he still stands out. He’s the lead. It was a good experience working on this,” the actor adds.

Crediting Kashyap for pulling off a casting coup with actors like Kay Kay Menon, Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Zakir Hussain, Asif Basra and Gajraj Rao, Malhotra says, “The shoot went very smoothly. I had once asked Kashyap that in all his films he ends up choosing the best and he told me, ‘Main leta hi hun aise logo ko jo [talent se] bhare hote hain’.”