Lord Ganesha songs in Hindi films have a history of being shot on a grand scale, complete with dance, colour, dhol-taasha and the works. The filming of these elaborate songs requires a lot of prep and detailed planning. And often these devotional and high-energy tracks lead to the film’s climax, elevating the drama and its visual impact on screen. We delve into the making of some of these beautifully shot Ganpati songs in cinema.

Hrithik Roshan, Priyanka Chopra and Sanjay Dutt starrer Agneepath was the remake of Amitabh Bachchan's 1990 release.

Deva Shree Ganesha from Agneepath went on to become one of the most popular Ganesh Chaturthi songs 

Talking about one of the most popular Ganpati songs, Deva Shree Ganesha from Agneepath, choreographer Chinni Prakash says, "Agneepath was Karan Malhotra's debut directorial. An entire chawl set was erected on an open ground in Mumbai's Versova for the film. We began the shoot with a Ganesh pooja of the huge idol. We shot the song over five days on a grand scale, with Hrithik playing the dhol, performing aarti and lots of dancers around. People were screaming, dancing and all of us had goosebumps. We had trials over four days to decide how the kumkum would fall over the idol. We toppled a tank filled with kumkum with six cameras rolling to capture that moment, and everyone including Hrithik Roshan and Priyanka Chopra stayed back to watch the shoot."

Don's (2006) visarjan song Mourya Re remains a favourite with Ganpati pandals. Aradhana Seth, production designer of the film Don, recalls, “Most songs take five days to shoot on a big budget film, Mourya Re took six days, if we count the real-life visarjan day. This particular shoot day was filmed much in advance as we decided to capture the real-life Ganesh visarjan. We sent out five camera crews across Mumbai to film it, viewed the footage and then decided on the idol that director Farhan Akhtar and I wanted to recreate. We also merged a couple of shots of the real crowd and the visarjan into the song. We created an 18-foot idol to match the one from the footage, tracking down an artisan who could do it. Pulling off a song as grand as this using live locations requires detailed planning and collaboration with the choreographer (Rajeev Surti) along with the director. The chawl gateway was not tall enough to take the Ganesh idol out on the truck, so there was lots of loading and unloading while moving to Juhu beach for the visarjan sequence. The shoot of the Ganpati song for SRK’s Don took place at a chawl. Multiple props were created and sourced, like an ektara, 90-100 instruments like dhols and cymbals, flags, coloured powder, flowers and pinatas.”

Sadda Dil Vi Tu, the song from ABCD: Anybody Can Dance has the leads, Lauren Gottlieb, Dharmesh Yelande and others participating in a dance competition.

Director and choreographer Remo D’souza who is a great believer of Ganpati says, “Since the time I first became a director, I ensure I have a Ganpati song in every film, and ABCD: Any Body Can Dance had two such songs in it. I've been a huge believer of Ganpati Bappa since childhood and after I got married, we started bringing Bappa home every year. In ABCD, the first song was with the typical dhol taasha, but music director Sachin-Jigar and I got rapper Hard Kaur to sing the second song Sadda Dil Vi Tu, which leads towards the climax, because it was a dance-based film and we wanted to try something different. There’s a portion in ABCD where the dancers wear Ganesha masks and form 7 tiers to create Ganpati with their bodies — every time the dancers tried, they fell and got injured. My wife Lizelle suggested they don’t consume non-veg on the day of the shoot and eventually, we wrapped up in two days."

Shivaji Satam played father to Sanjay Dutt in Mahesh Manjrekar’s crime drama Vaastav: The Reality. The aarti from the film, Shendur Lal Chadhayo, is popular with Ganesh pandals even two decades after the film’s release.

Shivaji Satam who played father to Sanjay Dutt in Mahesh Manjrekar’s crime drama says, “The utsav of 11 days is celebrated in a grand way in chawls and director Mahesh Manjrekar wanted the celebrations to be a part of the film. We shot the aarti sequence Shendur Lal Chadhayo at Parleshwar Ganesh mandir in one day. Although it may look like a simple, non-glamorous song compared to others, it required a lot of work, filming mid-shots, insets of Sanjay’s entry scene and so on. Reema Lagoo and I did not need glycerin while shooting the aarti, as our eyes were filled with tears for real."

A night of nostalgia unfolded at the Regal Theatre in Mumbai as actor Zeenat Aman graced the special screening of her classic film Don (1978). The event brought together fans, young and old, who eagerly sought her autographs.

In an engaging conversation with filmmaker Shivendra Singh Dungarpur, the 71-year-old reminisced about her early days in showbiz, starting with her first shot for O P Ralhan’s Hulchul in 1971: “I walked onto the sets, and it was so grey, drab. I looked at OP and said, ‘Sir, where is the glamour?’ He said, ‘Babusha, you are supposed to be the glamour!’”

The evening couldn’t pass without a question about the much-anticipated Don 3. Aman, who played the iconic character Roma in the original, stated, “Roma is a legend. Junglee billi!”

The actor also took a moment to pay tribute to actor-director Dev Anand, whose 100th birth anniversary was celebrated recently. “He was my mentor. If it wasn’t for Dev sahab, I wouldn’t have had such a meteoric rise in the business,” she shared.

When you’ve worked with someone for five decades, you don’t have just one memory that you cherish. Lata ji is someone I grew up with. We lived close by, and back then, she wasn’t Lata Mangeshkar — the Nightingale of India for us. Nor were we the hit duo of Kalyanji-Anandji. We were all newcomers, bonding as peers who love music.

Studios were basic then, and we used to record two songs in a day. Because of the noise [during the day], we would record only at night. Photographic recording was the norm when we worked. So, we could never hear, what we’ve recorded, on the same day. There was no option to rewind. Lata ji had worked with musicians pre-independence, so she had to ability to mould herself based on the musician’s style. She picked up in no time. She was the smoothest to work with because of her experience. She never lost her hunger to work harder. As a singer, she had only a singular aim — to creatively satisfy her music director.

I can never pick my favourite Lata song, but making Don [1978] together was memorable. In a film that is a thriller and not a romantic outing, a song of hers [Jiska mujhe tha intezaar] stands out because she made the material her own. The same stands true for Zanjeer [1973]. She made our music popular with her voice. Every song of hers lives beyond her. She is immortal because her art lives on. I love Kora Kagaz [1974]. Her songs feel like a life philosophy.

One has to go of course, but Lata is immortal because of her legacy. She was disciplined, dedicated and grounded till the end. Even in the last ten years when she wasn’t singing actively, she would never give in to food indulgences. She never thought she is brilliant at what she did. She always turned around and asked if it was good enough, wondering what more we needed.

“The way Goldie [director, writer and producer Sidharth Sengupta] and I work is that he sends me an open file with the screenplay; I just push the space bar, create space for myself and start writing dialogues,” says actor Varun Badola, known for his work in television serials like Astitva...Ek Prem Kahani, Koshish - Ek Asha and Des Mein Nikla Hoga Chand. Badola admits that he writes primarily for friends like Sengupta and hints at the organic nature of this working partnership. Besides being a well-known face in the Indian television circuit, Badola is also an accomplished dialogue writer, having worked for prominent web shows including ALT Balaji’s Apharan and Undekhi on Sony Liv.

Assisting Tigmanshu Dhulia in Haasil and Charas when he was only 22, and functioning as his additional dialogue writer helped him learn the ropes, shares Badola, now 48. It was an experience he put to good use when he was roped in to write episodes and scenes for Astitva, Koshish and Ek Chabi Hai Pados Mein later. It was his work on the latter which Sengupta came in to direct, that he believes got him the Apaharan job in 2017, a show which Badola believes holds some of his best work.

The two writing processes, however, have been starkly different. In television, Badola explains, one could be writing the same situation five times over. “When I was writing for TV, the idea was not to have the same conversation, the same words, but to think of something new which was difficult, because one needs to have more ideas.”

The writing for web shows on the other hand, needs to be taut and precise, he says. So, does he prefer one format over the other? “I have never written for personal satisfaction or achievement,” he responds. “It’s something to do with the way we’ve been brought up. The idea is to get the job done. Writing a good scene is just about that sometimes.”

Among writers he has admired over the years, the Salim-Javed pair still stands out, as the actor-writer recalls a scene from Don where the character’s release from jail is accomplished in less than 20 seconds. “Because they have already established that Don is so [influential], there is no need for explanations about security lapses, for instance,” he points out. “Bas story aage bhagao”. “If anyone has used willing suspension of disbelief to its fullest, it has to be them.”

At the same time, in spite of Hindi cinema’s dependence on such stellar writers, Badola is quick to point out how this creative sect in our country still does not get the credit or respect it deserves. Badola himself however refrains from writing screenplays and stories as those would take up too much time and prevent him from dedicating his energy to acting. “I don’t want to give up on acting as I love the craft. The idea [ultimately] is to have fun [with both].”  

The years have taught him to make the conversations he writes, more precise although he hasn’t consciously thought of growth in spite of having practised the craft for so many years. “The charm of writing a dialogue and of doing something new would be completely lost then,” he notes. At the same time, there is no strategising involved. “When I write a scene, I still write everything that comes to my mind and then we decide what stays and what goes,” he says.

For a creative individual whose simultaneous careers have frequently collided—he has spoken lines he had himself written in shows like Astitva—Badola hasn’t found one art to outweigh the other. “I am in love with the whole process,” he declares. There is also a need to disassociate oneself from one’s writing, he points out, because as an actor he may have visualised a scene differently from how another actor chooses to play it. “If everybody is acting to your whims and fancies, then perhaps all the actors will start looking the same,” he observes. “[The point is to] never get too emotional about your creation.”

With Shahenshah, Satte Pe Satta, among others, B’wood ready for new wave of Bachchan remakes
Himesh Mankad (MUMBAI MIRROR; April 14, 2020)

After Don, Agneepath, Zanjeer and Sholay, among others, 2.0 versions of several yesteryear hits featuring Amitabh Bachchan are under consideration. An industry source tells Mirror that Tinnu Anand, who directed the 1988 vigilante-drama Shahenshah, has been approached by many for the remake rights of the film. “He is yet to part with them. Another one of his directorials, Kaalia, is also a strong contender, with a lot of industry insiders keen to put a modern-day spin on the action-entertainer,” informs the source.

Meanwhile, we hear negotiations are underway for the rights of Prakash Mehra’s 1982 comic-caper, Namak Halaal, which featured the Big B, Shashi Kapoor and Smita Patil. “It’s a timeless comedy and multiple producers are in talks. If the deal is locked, one of them is looking to approach a top actor-star kid, whose forte is comedy, to step into Bachchan’s shoes,” the source shares.

Bhushan Kumar had announced a remake of Hrishikesh Mukherjee’s Dharmendra and Bachchan-starrer classic, Chupke Chupke, with Rajkummar Rao as botany professor Parimal Tripathi, who masquerades as chauffeur Pyare Mohan to hoodwink his wife’s (Sharmila Tagore) protective brother-in-law (Om Prakash). The actor, who will step into Bachchan’s shoes to play literature professor, Sukumar Sinha, is yet undecided.

Rohit Shetty is bank-rolling a Satte Pe Satta remake, with Farah Khan in the director’s chair. The 1982 original was top-lined by Bachchan in a double role—as Ravi Anand, who lives with his six brothers, and the antagonist, Babu. Farah was keen to have Hrithik Roshan step in for the Big B for the second time after Agneepath. After several rounds of discussions, the actor walked out, reportedly due to differences over the script. The director then approached Salman Khan, who was skeptical about playing a character previously essayed by the veteran actor. Buzz is, the makers are now in talks with Ajay Devgn for the part.

“It’s challenging to get such a huge ensemble in place. An official update on the film is expected once the Coronavirus pandemic subsides,” adds the source.
-------------------------
OTHER REMAKES

SHAKTI
A few years ago, a filmmaker was planning a remake with Bachchan Sr. playing DCP Ashwini Kumar, originally portrayed by Dilip Kumar, and Abhishek Bachchan stepping in to play the son, Vijay Kumar. Sanjay Gupta was to direct the film which was shelved before reaching the rewrite stage.

DO AUR DO PAANCH
In the 2010s, Vashu Bhagnani was planning to revamp the Rakesh Kumar-directed comedy, which also featured Shashi Kapoor, Hema Malini and Parveen Babi. After the success of Karan Johar’s Dostana, the producer approached John Abraham and Abhishek Bachchan but the film, to be directed by debutant Akshai Puri, never saw the light of day.

Roshmila Bhattacharya (MUMBAI MIRROR; March 5, 2020)

For millennials, the name Iftekhar may not ring a bell, but for me he was the ‘inspector uncle’ of my growing up years at the movies. While Sayedna Iftekhar Ahmed Sharif may well have played a smuggler, Mulk Raj Daavar, in Deewar, and the notorious Black Cobra masquerading as Inspector Bhupinder Singh in Rishi Kapoor and Neetu Singh’s romantic thriller Khel Khel Mein, in my memories, he’s always on the right side of the law. I remember him as Zanjeer’s Police Commissioner Singh who takes Amitabh Bachchan’s Vijay to task for getting “personal” with criminals and Don’s DSP D’Silva whose brainwave it is to pick up another Bachchanesque Vijay, this one a simpleton slumdweller, and pass him off as a mafia boss who was gunned down during a chase. He wore the vardi with distinguished panache, bringing dignity to his many cop roles in Hindi films, and according to his wife, Hina, was even accepted as one of them by the cops.

Hina ji recalled that once they were stopped by a havildar when they mistakenly drove into a ‘No Entry’ lane. “But one look at Iftekhar and the cop saluted him, letting us off, the penalty forgotten,” she had laughed when I met her decades ago.

Interestingly, despite looking so convincing in a uniform, Iftekhar saab himself never aspired to join the force. He started off in his father’s firm in Kanpur, disinterestedly waded through some more office jobs, before he was spotted singing at a function in Kolkata by composer Kamal Dasgupta who not only recorded two songs with him for a private album, but even recommended him for an acting role in the 1944 film, Taqrar, which flagged off a career in the movies that continued for half-a-century.

Three years later, communal riots uprooted him from the City of Joy and brought him to Mumbai while the Partition separated him from his family who migrated to Pakistan. A period of struggle followed, during which both Iftekhar saab and his wife were too proud to ask for money, even from their own families. The roles kept coming, be it that of a gardener in Patanga, an Air Force officer in Sangam, a doctor in Cha Cha Cha or a public prosecutor in Shaheed. And then there was a string of police inspector roles, in films like Shree 420, Guide, and Teesri Manzil. But it was the cop turn in Ittefaq in ’69 that marked a turning point in his career.

Ashok Kumar had recommended Iftekhar saab, who he had known since his Bombay Talkies days, to his producer-friend B R Chopra, for the suspense thriller directed by his brother Yash. Though he was a decade older, Dadamoni and Iftekhar saab were inseparable and would jabber away in French. In fact, it was his buddy, a Lucknow School of Arts alumnus, who got him hooked to painting when Dadamoni was ailing and laid up in bed, to distract him. “One day a beautiful painting of a horse arrived from Dadamoni with a note, saying, ‘To my guru who put the brush in my hand for the first time,’” flashbacked Hina ji. In ’64, Iftekhar saab had painted the title credits for Kishore Kumar’s Door Gagan Ki Chhaon Mein.

He was an honest man and a conscientious actor whose heart broke when his daughter Saeeda was diagnosed with cancer. “For five years he watched Saeeda… the tension and depression killed him. At night he would cry silently into his pillow,” Hina ji sighed.

Six days after his daughter passed away, on February 7, 1995, Iftekhar saab was rushed to the hospital. He recovered enough to bring in his 75th birthday on February 22, but the next day, suffered a paralytic stroke. On March 4, he took his last curtain call, dreaming of the kebabs and paaya his Hina would cook for him. He had met her when she was 16 and had broken off his engagement to marry the pretty Jewish girl who had come into his building in Kolkata and entered his life following a Japanese air raid. Once they were married, they were never apart. Till his daughter called him away… For me, there will never be a better ‘inspector uncle’.

Neha Maheshwri (BOMBAY TIMES; February 6, 2020)

Anil Kapoor will be seen as a police officer with grey shades in Mohit Suri’s Malang, which also features Disha Patani, Aditya Roy Kapur and Kunal Kemmu. The ‘evergreen’ actor says that he has a surprise or two for the audience up his khaki sleeves. While he doesn’t reveal what they are, in a chat with BT, he gets candid about his unfading popularity with the audience as well as filmmakers, and how he never aspires for any tag. Excerpts...

Many actors have said that they draw upon their inner emotions while portraying characters on screen. As an actor, who has been a part of the industry for over four decades, have you ever felt emotionally sapped while doing such a variety of roles, or the need to take a break?
Of course, I do feel the need sometimes. During the first decade of my career, there were so many factors driving me. I wanted to work as much as I could. The second decade was all about trying to maintain what I had by working in the best of films. There were financial obligations and setbacks, too, like Roop Ki Rani Choron Ka Raja (1993, home production). The third decade was all about maintaining longevity. I was focusing on adapting myself to the need of the hour and trying to make younger filmmakers notice my versatility.

During the fourth decade, I went into a transition mode. Also, God has been kind, as opportunities keep presenting themselves. How can I say no to them? It was almost after completing 35 years in the industry that Dil Dhadakne Do (2015) happened, which opened more doors. Then Ek Ladki Ko Dekha Toh Aisa Laga (2019) happened. It's not that the thought of taking a break hasn’t crossed my mind, but exciting offers keep coming my way.

Talking about Ek Ladki Ko Dekha Toh Aisa Laga, Sonam has been brave with her choices in films. Do you think you are as brave as your daughter?
I am glad that Sonam, Rhea and Harsh (Harsh Varrdhan Kapoor) are making brave choices and sticking to them. They have chosen difficult paths. I was quite brave too, but not as brave as them. That’s probably because I had a lot of financial responsibilities. My kids don’t need to think about money when making their choices. They aren’t crazy about money. They are ambitious, but to do things they believe in. In my case, I had to keep doing safe films, to get a chance to try on brave projects. It was important for my films to do great business, so that I could take a chance with films like Lamhe (1991), 1942 A Love Story (1994), Eeshwar (1989), My Wife's Murder (2005) or Nayak (2001). There was a time jab log bolte the ki yeh bada apne aap ko English actor samajhta hai, itna ‘real’ acting karta hai. And then suddenly, one day, I became a commercial actor for them. Jhakaas ho gaya! Finally, it’s all about perception.

Today, we keep talking about content-driven cinema, but you have associated yourself with such films and unconventional subjects several times in your career...
Hamesha aisa hi tha. Beta (1992), Judaai (1997), Virasat (1997), Chameli Ki Shaadi (1986), Eeshwar… they are all content-driven films, which is why they have stood the test of time. People around me would call me a big star, but I have always banked on content, not on my stardom alone. I believe that’s the reason for my longevity. For me, it’s not always necessary for a film to be a hit at the box office, but it should withstand the test of time.

It’s not easy to keep yourself relevant and going strong in this industry, which is known to be fickle. Many of your contemporaries have retired, while others are settling for smaller parts or even try to revive their careers, though not so successfully. But even after 41 years, you are still going strong...
I am just following my instinct and going with the flow. I have been fortunate that young filmmakers want to work with me. I took risks in the early stage of my career. So, they know that they can approach me with their crazy ideas. I have done films in which the heroine had a better character graph than me. Had I been slightly rigid, I would have missed out on them. There were times when I did films in which I didn’t play the lead role, like Taal (1999), Biwi No 1 (1999) and Slumdog Millionaire (2009). I did them because, as they say, ‘there are no small parts, there are only small actors’. I never cared about the length of my roles. I tell filmmakers, ‘You give me two good scenes and I will do it, but don’t use my presence just because I am Anil Kapoor’. I remember when Farhan Akhtar had approached me for Don (2006), I told him that I don’t mind playing a don in a film which features Shah Rukh Khan in the lead. There were times when I did films for friendship as well. They have told me, ‘Main yeh film bana raha hoon, main takleef mein hoon’. I had an inkling that the film won't do well and even told them ki yeh picture nahi chalegi. They turned around and said, ‘Aapko kya farak padta hai sir. Kar lo aap’. Maine kee hain woh pictures. I am not a ruthlessly self-centred person.

There was a time when you were hailed as a superstar, and now, you are called ‘evergreen’. Today, when we talk about superstars in Bollywood, only very few names feature on that list. How seriously do you take these tags?
My tags change every decade. At first, it was ‘Yeh actor hai, star nahi hai’, which changed to ‘He is not just a star, but a superstar’. Then people said that he tried to replace Bachchan, but he couldn’t. Now, the tag is around my fitness and good health. I never aspire for a tag and don’t work towards earning one. They keep on changing from ‘Forever Young’, ‘Star’, ‘Superstar’, ‘Evergreen’, ‘The next Amitabh Bachchan’, ‘The next Sanjeev Kumar’ and ‘Jhakaas’. However, the one tag that remains to be my favourite and has been bestowed upon me by respected directors, is that of a ‘Chameleon’. I would strive for it to remain with me.

You will be seen with your son Harsh in the Abhinav Bindra biopic. There were rumours that you were initially hesitant to share screen space with him as you did not want any unfair comparisons...
These are all rumours. I can play anybody’s father, grandfather or even great grandfather. That has never been an issue. I had, in fact, almost played Sridevi’s father in Lamhe. I have played father to many actors, so why would I have a problem playing Sonam and Harsh’s father? My children are more worried about me than I am for them, because they are very sure of their work. Fortunately, like me, both Sonam and Harsh don’t worry about the length of the character. I have also done cameos. Similarly, Harsh is doing a cameo in AK Vs AK. It’s not ‘I, Me, Myself’ for any of us. Nobody is anybody’s fan or harbours superiority or inferiority complex. That’s the atmosphere in the house.

When Harsh’s first two films didn’t work, did he come up to you for advice? For any actor, box-office failure can be quite upsetting...
In fact, he advises me on every film, including Malang. He suggested that I watch Harvey Keitel’s character in Bad Lieutenant (1992). We (Sonam, Harsh and I) don’t advise each other, but throw ideas. Of course, box-office success is very important and it does affect you, but you have to move on. Harsh was upset, too, when his films didn’t do well. He is a normal human being. Success and failure are a part of life and our profession.

Lastly, is there anything that makes the ‘evergreen’ Anil Kapoor insecure? Does the thought of ageing play on your mind, at least at times?
What do you think? Everybody has to age and that, too, gracefully, die. There is no sequel to youth, old age and death. You experience it only once.

Roshmila Bhattacharya (MUMBAI MIRROR; November 22, 2019)

I don’t claim to know her well. The only thing I remember from our one meeting at a suburban hotel when I had tagged along with my editor, was of her firing the waiter when he brought the tea because the milk was cold. By then, she had moved out of the spotlight, but Zeenat Aman was still every inch the diva.

The actress, who turned 68 on November 19, will be seen next in Ashutosh Gowariker’s period drama, Panipat, and still remains an enigma. To understand her better, I turned to Manoj Kumar saab because a plaintive Mukesh-Lata Mangeshkar duet from his film, Roti Kapda Aur Makaan, “Main Na Bhoolunga”, still resonates with me.

She played Sheetal, who’s in love with his character Bharat, but marries her rich employer, Shashi Kapoor, for the life of luxury he offers her. “It was a different role for her, with its saris and shades of grey. But right from day one, Zeenat was determined to perform better than what people were expecting from her,” shares the writer-producer-director-actor of the highest grossing Hindi film of 1974.

Interestingly, while he was scripting, Manoj Kumar saab had Sharmila Tagore in mind for the role. His publicist friend Gopal Pandey, whom he had narrated the script to, had narrated some scenes to Sharmila whose work he was handling. So,when he approached her, she told him she wanted to play the deglam Tulsi, the construction worker Bharat is drawn to after Sheetal ditches him. He left her apartment without committing and soon after, left for Delhi with his family. There, while at his farm, he wrote a four-page story about a father and son, which he made as Shor, with Nanda and Jaya Bachchan, in 1972. Roti Kapda Aur Makaan came along two years later, with Zeenat as Sheetal and Moushumi Chatterjee as Tulsi.

He recalls that for the film’s climax, he had taken four days from his artistes. “It eventually took 14 days to wrap, but Zeenat, who was a busy actress then, quietly juggled schedules and dates, giving me the time I needed. She had to hold back her tears and following instructions, impressed with her performance,” he raves.

During the shooting of the film, he ran into Raj Kapoor at composer Laxmikant’s music room. When asked him, “How’s the girl?” he praised Zeenat, saying she was hard-working and determined to do good work. “Wonderful!” Raj ji exulted. Five years later, she was his Roopa in Satyam Shivam Sundaram. “I can’t say I got her the film,” Manoj Kumar saab shrugs.

However, there is one other film that he can claim to have got Zeenat. Nariman Irani, the cinematographer of Shor and Roti Kapda Aur Makaan, had suffered a financial setback and came to him for help. “I told him to get Salim Khan and Javed Akhtar to write a script for him. He could produce the film with my assistant Chandra Barot as the director. I spoke to Amitabh (Bachchan) and Zeenat who were working in my film and they agreed to act in it,” shares the veteran actor-filmmaker.

The film was Don. After watching a trial show, he suggested they incorporate two songs. “They added one, but even Amitabh agrees 'Khaike Paan Banaraswala' was my suggestion. The film was a blockbuster,” he says.

Zeenat also owes her make-up man to Manoj Kumar saab, who, after watching the first day’s rush print, instructed his make-up man, Krishna Dada, to do her make-up, before reshooting the scenes. “Zeenat liked her look so much she asked me if she could keep Krishna dada. She was shooting four shifts a day and I knew I would lose him. But I let him go, knowing he’d make good money with her and she would gain from his expertise,” he smiles, adding fondly, “Zeenat was a dedicated actress, I wish her all the best.”

Roshmila Bhattacharya (MUMBAI MIRROR; May 17, 2018)

“Don ka intezaar to gyrah mulkon ki police kar rahi hai lekin Don ko pakadna mushkil hi nahin namumkin hai...” Four decades later, this iconic dialogue in Amitabh Bachchan’s distinctive baritone still resonates. Yes, the line has been reiterated by Shah Rukh Khan in Farhan Akhtar’s 2006 remake, Don: The Chase Begins Again, but for me Don will always be the Big B.

Chandra Barot, who directed the 1978 crime thriller with Bachchan in the double role of Don and Vijay, has fond memories of Farhan as a boy of four when he’d drop by their place for the script, which was co-written by his father Javed Akhtar and his erstwhile partner Salim Khan. “My film is still remembered for its brilliant lines, including 'Mujhe jungli billiyan bahut pasand hai'. I was surprised when I found some of them repeated in the new Don. I always gave the credit for the film’s success to Salim-Javed’s fantastic script,” says Barot who turned director to bail out his cinematographer-friend Nariman Irani.

Irani was in the red after his 1972 film, Zindagi Zindagi, flopped. He was the cinematographer for Manoj Kumar’s Roti Kapda Aur Makaan and Barot who was the assistant director on the social drama, along with its actors, Bachchan, Zeenat Aman and Pran, decided to collaborate with Irani on his second production that would help him pay off his debts. Don opened in 1978 which boasted of several other Bachchan starrers, including Deven Verma’s Besharam, Sultan Ahmed’s Ganga Ki Saugandh, Ramesh Behl’s Kasme Vaade, Yash Chopra’s Trishul and Prakash Mehra’s Muqaddar Ka Sikandar. He had also given the voiceover for Satyajit Ray’s Shatranj Ke Khilari which released the previous year.

“Raj Kapoor saab’s Satyam Shivam Sundaram also arrived in 1978 and it seems incredible that Don put me in the league of these ace directors,” says Barot. He recalls how Dilip Kumar had raved about the film to Ramesh Sippy and Manoj Kumar after seeing it at a special trial and the latter had groused that he had yet to see it. Barot had assisted Manoj Kumar for nine years and admits that on the first day of the shoot, he was influenced by his mentor-director while taking his first shot. It had Bachchan as Don, using Helen with a gun to her head as a human shield to get away from the cops, telling her, “Yeh tum jaanti ho ki yeh revolver khali hai, main jaanta hoon ki yeh revolver khaali hai, lekin police nahin jaanti ki yeh revolver khali hai.” After the take, Irani groused that Barot’s long shots were taking the focus away from Helen’s beautifully lit face. “After that, though I still thought like Manoj Kumar, I’d execute the shot like Chandra Barot that gave Don its distinctive stamp,” he reasons.

The above mentioned scene was preceded by Helen’s seductive “Yeh Mera Dil”. They’d booked Mehboob Studio for two days, till 10 pm, but wrapped up early on the second afternoon. Barot decided to shoot a small scene of DSP D’Silva (Iftekhar), approaching Vijay with a picture of his lookalike asking him if he had seen the man before. “The studio’s canteen was turned into Vijay’s home in the slums, his two foster children visible through the wire mesh. We had no idea what Don would look like, so we used a picture of Amitabh from Premji’s Majboor, suave in a jacket. Vijay was dressed in a lungi from Hill Road and a red shirt,” he informs.

Before the film was completed, Irani died in an accident while working on another film. Barot plodded on. On Manoj Kumar’s suggestion “Khaike Paan Banaraswala” penned by Anjaan for Dev Anand’s Banarasi Babu but not used, was incorporated. “Anand ji (of Kalyanji-Anandji, the film’s composers) was my neighbour and I’d often bump into him late at night when he returned home, his lips stained with the red of beetal juice from chewing paan all day. So I ordered 30-40 paans and made Amitabh eat them all before the shoot. The next morning he was cursing me because his mouth was corroded from the chuna,” Barot laughs.

The film was released without any promotion and he remembers going with Bachchan to check out the hand-painted, life-size posters as they went up. “Critic Devyani Chaubal wrote it off as a flop but one of my photographer friends, Rahul, sent me a picture of crowds snaking around Tardeo’s Ganga Jamuna, as also Excelsior theatre, when the advance booking opened. After it opened, bandwallas would play 'Khaike Paan Banaraswala' and 'Yeh Mera Dil' at weddings,” he says, adding that at musical shows abroad, Bachchan would enter to the tunes of “Main Hoon Don” and bring the curtains down with “Khaike Paan Banaraswala.”

Barot who attended one such show in New York, after Bachchan recovered from the near-fatal blow delivered on the sets of Coolie, remembers the rush of Indians at Madison Square Garden and policemen patrolling on horseback. “A surprised local admitted he had never seen such crowds even for a Michael Jackson concert and so many Indians thronging the venue,” he laughs, asserting that the Don lives on going by all the compliments showered on him when his directorial debut turned 40, not just from strangers across the world, some who wanted to make a documentary on the film, but also friends like Manmohan Shetty, Sanjay Gadhvi, Jaya Bachchan and Helen whom he would call Helenski on the set.

As told to Natasha Coutinho (MUMBAI MIRROR; April 2, 2018)

I trained in football for Vivek Agnihotri’s sports drama Dhan Dhana Dhan Goal which also featured John Abraham, Arshad Warsi and Bipasha Basu among others. We had a coach who would teach us the technique and body language and that made a huge difference on-screen. You are eventually faking it but the audience has to believe that what they are watching is real. So even in the simplest of sequences when the ball comes rolling to you, you should know how to flick it to another player.

We shot at a club in London but before the shoot, we would practice at St. Andrew’s ground in Mumbai. Even during the shoot, we would play after pack up just for fun and soon I began to enjoy the game. I played the coach, Tony Singh, and didn’t require as much training as the others but I was diligent because onscreen, your eyes reflect your confusion. I sat through recordings of matches and observed how coaches gestured with instructions to players from the dug-out, laying the law down when they didn’t do what they said in the dressing room and also how they argued with the referee over a decision. I wanted to be an authentic coach on screen.

I learnt scuba diving for Happy New Year. In one sequence, we had to dive underwater without a tank and had a coordinator from UK who taught us breathing techniques. He’d strap a knots and crosses pad to his arm and when we reached the bottom of the pool, he’d make us play the game so we would get involved. When we felt the lack of oxygen, we’d tap him on the shoulder and he would give us a pipe. We’d suck in a lungful of breath and continue playing the game.

Don: The Chase Begins had a car chase shot in Langkawi which required me to drive while blinded by laundry hanging on a clothesline. Initially, they put a mask of my face on a stunt driver so it would look like I was driving. But Haji was a small guy and the eye-openings on the mask were coming down to his cheeks and the lip slit falling below his chin. Since the mask didn’t work Haji taught me a few tricks so I could pull off the scene on my own. That was my brush with stunt driving.

In 3 Idiots, I played an ambidextrous professor and practiced writing with both hands. That skill is of no use to me today but Virus liked showing off that he is a genius and so I had to learn it. I also had to learn how to stride through the corridors of a college looking like a king. As part of my prep, I’d dress up in character, enter a real class and observe what was happening. People would wonder what I was doing but I needed to inculcate that authority and arrogance in my walk.

In Rajkumar Hirani’s Lage Raho Munna Bhai, I played a sardar from Mumbai, Lucky Singh, whom I modelled myself on six sardars from Lamington Road. There are lots of spare part shops there and I’d sit there and make videos. I learnt how they dressed and behaved, suddenly breaking into Marathi without getting into the “Balle balles” and “Oyes”. One day, one of the sardars insisted I should also observe how they hung out with friends so I went with them to beer and fish restaurants in Sion- Koliwada and also watched them do seva in gurudwaras.


Boman Irani in stills from Don: The Chase Begins, Happy New Year, Lage Raho Munnabhai and Dhan Dhana Dhan Goal

Malavika Mohanan also wants to collaborate with her first co-star, Dulquer Salmaan
Avinash Lohana (MUMBAI MIRROR; April 2, 2018)

Cinematographer K U Mohanan’s daughter Malavika, who made her acting debut opposite Malayalam superstar Dulquer Salmaan in the 2013 romantic film Pattam Pole, is now gearing up to spread her wings with Iranian filmmaker Majid Majidi’s debut Hindi film, Beyond the Clouds. The film also features Shahid Kapoor’s brother Ishaan Khatter as her onscreen brother Amir.

“I had a very middle-class upbringing, because by the time my father broke through with the Farhan Akhtar directed Don, I was already in standard ninth. We’d drop by on the sets sometimes to catch Shah Rukh (Khan) or Aamir (Khan) in action but I wouldn’t call myself an industry kid,” says Malavika. After graduating in Mass Media, she was pondering which stream to pursue when Mammootty offered her Pattam Pole opposite his son and being a fellow Malayali, she accepted and ended up doing few other films down South. “But while they were happening, I was meeting other people with my eye to the Hindi film industry which has a bigger reach. Last year, when I was out having dinner with my friend, I got a call from Honey Trehan (the casting director of Beyond The Clouds) asking me to urgently send over some pictures to him.”

The next day, when Malavika met Honey at his office, she learnt that it was a Majid Majidi film and a few big actresses (including Deepika Padukone and Kangana Ranaut) were contending for the role. “But while doing the look test, I was hopeful of bagging this much coveted role. I’m a huge fan of Majidi sir and have grown up watching his films. A few days later, I got a confirmation call from the makers,” reminisces the actress knowing instinctively that this would be a perfect launch for her.

Since she started shooting just five days later, she didn’t have much time for prep but spent some time at the Dhobi Ghat, learning how to iron clothes like her character Tara, while working on her body language and Bambaiya accent. For the sequences where she is in jail, she was required to lose 8 kg in 15 days. “That was physically exhausting. I also started sleeping less so I’d get some dark circles and didn’t wash my hair for 10 days to look convincingly distraught on screen,” informs Malavika.

It was Ishaan’s first movie too and since they play siblings, they developed a special bond during the filming and were very protective of each other. “If a good offer comes along, I’d love to work with Ishaan again,” she smiles.

The smile gets bigger and brighter when told that her first co-star Dulquer’s Hindi debut, Karwaan, is also releasing this year. “We are in touch, on and off. He is a great guy and being my first co-star, he will always be very special. It would really be cool to do a Hindi film with him,” she beams.

Ask her if she’ll continue making films down South and she surprises you by admitting that she never wanted to set up a permanent base there. “The shelf life of an actress in Malayalam films is really short. I’ve seen superstars fade out in a year or two. In that way, once you establish yourself in Bollywood, you have many years of work ahead of you which is why I did not expend my energies there. But I’d love to do some good Malayalam films once in a while,” says the self-admitted Vidya Balan fan who also came to Bollywod after flirting briefly with Malayalam cinema.

Meanwhile, Malavika is still figuring her second Hindi film. Her bucket list is an interesting one. “I’d love to play a Queen or Wonder Woman,” she signs off with a laugh.

Lasyapriya Sundaram (BOMBAY TIMES; September 5, 2017)

Subhash K Jha (DNA; August 31, 2017)

Apoorva Lakhia’s highly anticipated biopic on Dawood Ibrahim’s sister Haseena Parkar is facing a peculiar problem: How to promote the film without any songs?

“As she is playing Haseena Parkar in the biopic, Shraddha Kapoor cannot sing and dance like she did in Rock On and Half Girlfriend. She has to remain in character. This also means she can’t do any of those filmy things that heroines do while promoting the film,” says a source.

Director Apoorva Lakhia has hit on a brainwave. He will use retro music in a big way to fill the lacuna created by an absence of contemporary songs. Says a source, “The producers have bought the rights of some of the biggest chartbusters of the 1970s including Chura Liya from Yaadon Ki Baarat and Arrey Diwanon Mujhe Pehchanon from Don. These will be used as part of the film’s soundtrack.”

Shraddha will sing a theme song composed by Sachin-Jigar celebrating the life of a woman, who was forever shadowed by her brother’s criminal records. “The song will be mellow moody and melancholic. Shraddha will prove once and for all that she is indeed related to the illustrious Mangeshkar family,” says a source.