Prashant Walde had taken up a job in Dubai after his Bollywood career took a hit. Now, he has lost that job, too, and is struggling to make ends meet
Onkar Kulkarni (BOMBAY TIMES; May 7, 2020)

Countless daily wagers have lost their jobs due to the economic crisis triggered by the Coronavirus pandemic. Among them is Prashant Walde, a lookalike of Bollywood superstar, Shah Rukh Khan. Prashant, who would work as SRK’s body double in Bollywood, was forced to take up a job offer from Dubai after there wasn’t enough work for him in BTown, as the actor has been spacing out his films over the past two years. And now, the #CoronaCrisis has left him jobless once again.

Back home in Mumbai, he tells BT, “I have been a handyman for filmmakers working on Shah Rukh bhai’s films and commercials. In his absence, they would use me for long shots and cheat shots, too.”

Prashant, who has worked in films like Om Shanti Om, Don 2, Chennai Express and Fan, apart from many commercials, says that his B-Town career took a hit a few years ago. “Hum lookalikes ki life hi aisi hai. Over the past few years, I wasn’t getting much work. The number of stage shows reduced, too. The last time I shot with Shah Rukh bhai was in December 2019, for an ad film,” shares Prashant, who used to earn ` 30,000 per day as an SRK lookalike.

With no work, debts mounted. He continues, “I have two children and my wife is a homemaker. So, I needed a steady job, but didn’t know anything else apart from being SRK’s body double.”

In December 2019, an opportunity knocked on the door and Prashant flew to Dubai. “I got an offer from a Bollywood theme park, where I had to work as an SRK lookalike in 12-hour shifts. I had to stage 15 shows, each lasting 12 minutes,” he shares.

However, within three months, he was sent back home following the Coronavirus outbreak. “I was lucky that I reached Mumbai on March 21, otherwise I would have been stuck due to the lockdown,” he says, adding that all his earnings have gone into clearing dues. “It’s become a matter of survival now. There are over 160 artistes like me in India and we had set up an All India Look Alike Association (AILAA), but it hardly has any funds. So, we recently approached the Federation of Western India Cine Employees (FWICE), and while they did offer some help, we are still struggling to make ends meet,” he rues.

Has he reached out to SRK for help? “I made a living out of his identity, so it feels embarrassing to go to him for help. I am sure some solution will come up,” signs off Prashant.

Nayandeep Rakshit (DNA; April 19, 2018)

People say that children usually follow in their parents’ footsteps. But for Malavika Mohanan, it was just the opposite. While her dad K U Mohanan is a celebrated cinematographer, the young lady is ready for a career in front of the lens. The actress talks to us about her maiden Hindi venture, Majid Majidi’s Beyond The Clouds (BTC), her wish list of actors as well as directors and how she plans to take her filmi career ahead from here. Over to her...

Beyond The Clouds is quite an unconventional choice for a debut. Did you always want it this way?
Like everyone else, even I wanted a grand debut. When I say grand, I mean an A-league team. And it can’t get more A-league than this. I had Majidi sir leading the pack, Vishal Bhardwaj has written the dialogues and Ishaan (Khatter) is a newcomer, but he is a fantastic performer. So the team was kick-ass and it was an amazing experience. Today, even in Bollywood, things are changing and a lot of focus is on performances instead of naach-gaana.

The line between conventional and unconventional cinema is blurring now. Comment.
Previously, there was a strong divide between indie and masala films, but yes, now the lines are getting blurred. The change is great because it opens up different avenues for actors like me who can do a Beyond The Clouds and an Imtiaz Ali film side by side. We can fit into different movies and I hope I get a diverse range of roles. And why not? In Hollywood, actors get all kinds of roles, so it’s high time that in Bollywood, too, we start exploring new stuff rather than just sticking to massy formula films.

Does it mean you are averse to doing a movie in the masala space?
I grew up watching Karisma Kapoor and Shah Rukh Khan’s movies. So, I respect them and their cinema, too. I want to work in a team that looks after you. There’s Karan Johar and I have loved his films, so why won’t I do that? I was seven or eight when Kuch Kuch Hota Hai released. I want to work with Dharma and even with Vishal sir because he does different cinema. I got into my costume and character in BTC. If I can do that, I should be able to do the others as well. I would like to believe that today, there’s a huge space for newcomers like me. Look at Ishaan, he already has a lot of attention and has signed a film before this. But he was interested because he was hungry as an actor. To be directed by Mr Majidi is the cherry on the cake. Only an idiot would think twice about doing his film. Today, there’s no formula to becoming a star. So you might as well do what you love.

Have you already planned your next project?
I’m in talks with a few filmmakers and I need to decide which project to do next. But I don’t want to get stereotyped, but play interesting characters.

Any plans of doing an international film?
Not yet. I have been too consumed with this project. We have travelled with it to a bunch of film festivals, but I haven’t given Hollywood a thought as of now. All the movies I’m in talks for currently, are in Hindi. But, yes, the walls are getting thinner and people like Priyanka Chopra are doing stuff that’s not been done before.

Given a chance, which actor would you work with in a movie?
I love Ranbir Kapoor and Shah Rukh Khan and would readily do a film with them. Also, because we have grown up watching SRK. My dad (K U Mohanan) shot Don 2, Raees and whenever he’s shooting, I keep going on set. I have met Shah Rukh several times and every time I meet him, I have my fangirl moment. Maybe when I meet him next, I’d talk to him about working in a film together.

The industry is going through a major downturn with corporate money drying up and most films going on the floors are not getting the budgets they would like. There are many reasons giving for this but eventually its down to content and how a section of the industry moved away from the Hindi roots to this so called new age cinema which we call DIL CHAHTA HAI cinema. For one because this film started it despite not being liked and secondly a section of the industry wanted to make and believed in it but only god knows why as the results were never there. A couple of weeks back we wrote about Disney India who tended to support this cinema with most of their films but whenever they went to rooted Hindi cinema with the story telling that the audience understood they delivered a ROWDY RATHORE, CHENNAI EXPRESS and DANGAL but sadly it was a few and far between.

Last week we wrote about the fiasco of DIL CHAHTA HAI (2001) which started this cinema which a section of the industry loved but the audience did not care for so if one of the biggest supporters of this cinema Disney India are written about then the actual biggest advocates Excel Entertainment have to be written about and more so as it will explain why this cinema just does not have a chance. Also what happens is that if there is some support for this new age cinema it is in the internet world as people do send mails saying these films are good but that is the opinion where watching is concerned which is box office plus television it tells a totally different story be it DIL CHAHTA HAI, ZINDAGI NA MILEGI DOBARA or BARFI. Its a case of being talked about but not really watched.

Nothing helps better to explain the failure of this cinema and its story telling style which has been probably picked up from everywhere in the World barring our own cinema than the filmography of Excel Entertainment. Disney India supported this cinema but at least they had a good outing occasionally like ROWDY RATHORE, CHENNAI EXPRESS and DANGAL which the audiences loved but Excel Entertainment were made of sterner stuff and did not flinch once and stuck to the new age cinema until now with RAEES.

Excel Entertainment has sixteen films in their filmography to date and all belong to the same cinema. The films are DIL CHAHTA HAI, LAKSHYA, DON, HONEYMOON TRAVELS PVT LTD, ROCK ON, LUCK BY CHANCE, KARTHIK CALLING KARTHIK, GAME, ZINDAGI NA MILEGI DOBARA, DON 2, TALAASH, FUKREY, DIL DHADAKNE DO, BANGISTAN, BAAR BAAR DEKHO and ROCK ON 2. Some of these films are HITS but even those HITS are under performers as they were expected to do better. It is important to note that out of these fifteen films, six are with Aamir Khan, Shah Rukh Khan and Hrithik Roshan and this is what says it all as what are the numbers for the films with these big stars. DON 2 with Shah Rukh Khan is the highest grosser at just 106 crore nett out of these films and it came in the same year as a much disliked Shah Rukh Khan film RA.ONE which did 114 crore nett and rated double of DON 2 on television. If that is not under performance then what is as RA.ONE was better from every angle though even RA.ONE was not appreciated.

DON 2 was a sequel of DON (2006) which was a remake of the 1978 DON film starring Amitabh Bachchan, Zeenat Aman and Pran. This weird thinking cinema is even reflected in DON (2006). DON in 1978 did very well, it was not a huge grosser or anything but was made in a restricted production budget (70 lakhs) which enabled very good profits for all. The restricted budget meant that DON (1978) could have been improved on as you have a winning story and now you have the budget also. This would not be a case with a SHOLAY (1975) as that is hard if not impossible to improve on. So DON is a good choice for a remake but it takes some creative mind to kill off the biggest reason why DON (1978) did so well and that was the simpleton who has to replace criminal. That character was the rooted Indian one and was killed off in DON (2006) which meant biggest plus gone so box office was never going to fly.

Those are the two Shah Rukh Khan films. Then there is LAKSHYA with Hrithik Roshan coming after the huge success of KOI MIL GAYA which was an urban drama with a war setting and the results were simply bad. Then there is ZINDAGI NA MILEGI DOBARA with Hrithik Roshan and Katrina Kaif which a section of the audience watched but the other rejected it outright but a 90 crore nett total for a film with Hrithik Roshan and Katrina Kaif means its just the stars and the film itself added nothing. For these stars together in 2011 this total should come eyes closed. How many people can relate with people trekking around Europe and singing songs in foreign languages in India? The film was supposed to be an emotional drama and they say emotions are universal and its true but not when the characters are not relatable. The film was a total disaster on television.

Then there is Aamir Khan with DIL CHAHTA HAI and TALAASH. Enough has been said about DIL CHAHTA HAI and TALAASH is probably the only poor Aamir Khan film in a decade simply because nothing is there in the film. It looks like a remake of some B grade European thriller. The film grossed 92 crore nett which is again only the actor taking it there as film has only negative points. But Aamir Khan was not left alone with just two films. He was made to be a voice over of a dog in DIL DHADAKNE DO which is crazy and where do these creative ideas come from? Aamir Khan may have a relationship with the makers but why do a voice over of a dog? The Hindi translation for dog is slang which led to the North Indian multiplex audience laughing for the wrong reasons every time Aamir Khan spoke as they knew it was him with the face of the dog. Again it was an emotional family drama but with a family which was not relatable so how can the film work on an emotional level? Also its not about the family being rich or from high society which makes it not relatable. KABHI KHUSHI KABHIE GHAM in 2001 also had a rich family but the characters were relatable which led to the emotions working in a big way. Actually it comes down to presentation. On a side note even if that huge blockbuster had a voice over by a dog it would have had a different result.

These sort of results with big actors say there is something wrong. Its not actually Excel Entertainment but the cinema that is being made and they have stuck to it though it can't even get results with the biggest stars (The biggest star Salman Khan is not in any of the films but its doubtful if even he could have made a difference to the results if the films remained the same). The stars are also at fault here for making bad choices but they have got away with it as they had other films to back these bad ones. Even Excel Entertainment deserve credit as producers because they off loaded all these films to corporates though that was made easy having big stars but the prices meant that the corporates were always going to lose somewhere unless these films became SUPER HITS as that's what is expected from Aamir Khan, Shah Rukh Khan and Hrithik Roshan as a minimum. Also it made it easier for Excel to offload their smaller films as it enabled them to sell them in a package with the big star ones.

All the films made by Excel Entertainment till date can be called Hindi films as they are in that language but they are miles from being real Hindi films which appeal to real India. Then you have stories of young stars like Ranbir Kapoor, Ranveer Singh and Varun Dhawan doing the director of ZINDAGI NA MILEGI DOBARA and DIL DHADAKNE DO's next which is scary as these boys have potential but it can't be fulfilled if your doing the wrong cinema that has no potential today or going forward. Of course we can be wrong and this film may not be that DIL CHAHTA HAI cinema and then its a different story but all you can go by is the track record.

But there is always HOPE and there's RAEES which looks a real Hindi film from the promos, its a first for Excel Entertainment. The film looks rooted and the characters seem more relatable to the Indian audience. When we see the promo the doubts come as we know the history of Excel Entertainment so despite a good theatrical you think the DIL CHAHTA HAI cinema will be there somewhere though the hope is that its not. The difference is that the public does not know the history of Excel Entertainment and they are seeing the trailers worth only which will make them come out but if that so called new age cinema is there distorting the film they will find out fast enough.

If Disney India looks back they will know today where they have gone wrong but its possibly too late there and here with Excel Entertainment it would be good to see RAEES work in a big way as that will help showing the way forward. But for RAEES to work it has to be a real Hindi film as if its the DIL CHAHTA HAI type then it's all just about how far can Shah Rukh Khan star power take it and big numbers just don't happen on star power alone as can be seen with the results of DIL CHAHTA HAI, LAKSHYA, DON, ZINDAGI NA MILEGI DOBARA, DON 2 and TALAASH.

It is important going forward that cinema which is not going to work is left alone and this can only happen if studios understand the audience. The corporates are almost gone or not paying big money which made box office irrelevant for producers in terms of risk. So the industry can now only survive on results, either box office or television but preferably both and these big results can only come with rooted Hindi cinema. Once in a while the DIL CHAHTA HAI cinema will also work like BARFI (2012) but that is the exception not the rule.

Chaya Unnikrishnan (DNA; December 17, 2015)


You are one of the actors who believes in thoroughly prepping for the role — physically and mentally. Do you think that appearance is 50 per cent of the job done?
I don’t know about half the job done, but yes appearance is a great start for a person watching it. It goes a long way in believing in the character that the actor plays. Whenever you want to buy something, it’s the look that attracts you. So, once you get that right it’s a good place to start. Every time I look into the mirror, I think of that character and not myself. When I start looking like the character, it motivates me to be him. But this kind of prep is only for certain roles in films like Bhaag Milkha Bhaag, Karthik Calling Karthik and now, Wazir. My characters in Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara and Rock On!! were closer to home.

What kind of preparation did you do for Wazir?
I haven’t played a law enforcement officer before. It was a new world for me. There is a history to the world this character occupies. He has a certain body language, a decorum. He lives by the rule, so to speak. Fortunately, I know many people within the police force and I have always been fascinated by them — the way they behave socially, with family, and in office they are completely different people. But wherever they are, their eyes are very focussed. Yet, there’s always something clicking behind. I spoke to a lot of people about their hours of work and family life and imbibed all that.

What appealed to you about the film?
I have known Bejoy (Nambiar, director) for a while and we always discussed about working together. It finally happened with Wazir. Plus there was Amitabh Bachchan who I was fortunate to have directed 10 years ago, and was getting an opportunity to act with him. The energy and enthusiasm with which he does each scene is inspiring. Usually, when we do the same thing day in and day out, fatigue sets in, but it doesn’t seem to have come even into his neighbourhood! As for the film, it has a thriller element, which is apparent from the trailer. But there is also an emotional thread that runs through between my character and Aditi Rao Hydari’s, who plays my wife. Then there’s friendship between Bachchan’s character and mine. Very rarely does a script come along which balances the pace required for a whodunit with the kind of thairav you need for an emotional story. And this story written by Abhijat Joshi and Vidhu Vinod Chopra does it.

You have finished one schedule of Rock On 2. Why did you choose to shoot in Shillong?
Rock On 2 is about a local problem that needed to be dealt with. We needed hills and farm for the setting, which in all honesty could have been any region of India. As a filmmaker, I want to try and bring different cultures into the mainstream. We have seen other states being featured in films, but the North-East is not visited, unless somebody wants to shoot a song. While watching and reading news I saw there has been a slight discriminatory attitude towards North-East students and girls. They are harrassed and asked to go back home, but India is their home. They can go anywhere they want like we do. Which is why I wanted to bring them into the mainstream. In fact, an amazing local rock band Summersalt has also performed and is featured in the film.

You seem to be enjoying acting over directing. When do you plan to direct a film?
I am just putting those pieces together. Earlier, I had decided that after Rock On 2, I will take a call. Now that Rock On2 shoot is coming to an end, I am a little anxious that I don’t have anything to do after that. Within the next month I will have a plan of what I will do in 2016-17.

Your last directorial was Don 2...
Yes. That was in 2011. That seems to be my track record — directing a film once in four years. Directing gives me a lot of satisfaction as it’s about putting a film together. But I am enjoying the kind of work I am getting as an actor. I am hungry for more as a performer — working with different directors and co-actors. As for directing a film, I already have a script ready. In fact there are a couple of things I have written and I have enough enthusiasm to direct them.

Reportedly you want to do a period film...
Yes. One of the scripts is a period film. But I would rather not say anything now.

Heard you have been approached for Battle For Bittora?
(Smiles) Even I read about it, that’s all I can say.

You’ve said that you want a sequel of Zindagi Na Milegi to be made...
Actually, I said that in context of a question that was put to me. Somebody asked me which of my films I would like to make a sequel to. Since Don 2 has been made and I am now shooting Rock On 2, I said Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara. I am sure everyone associated with the film would be very excited if Reema (Kagti) and Zoya (Akhtar) put together as good, if not a better script, as the first. It’s a fun film to do. The characters have potential to go ahead. It is about friendship and love, which can be taken forward and intepreted the way they want to.

Your first film — Dil Chahta Hai — was also about friendship. Don’t you want to make a sequel to it?
Not really. What I wanted to say in that story about three friends I have said it. I never felt the need to do a sequel. Films like Dil Dhadakne Do, Rock On and Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara take me emotionally back to the same world of friendship and people being there for each other. They fill the void and I don’t miss it that much. If I didn’t have these films, I would have seriously thought about a sequel to Dil Chahta Hai.

There have been a lot of speculations about Don 3 too...
I don’t have a script for Don3 and we should just keep it at that.

Apart from Don is there any other old film that you would like to revisit?
No. Don was really the one I was very excited about, because of the kind of story it was. There was a cool factor even in the original 1978 film and I thought that would translate very well in today’s times. It was not just about that film, it was my love for that time. For me, it was the best film to take and remake as a tribute to that time.

Lastly, your thoughts on Raees and Sultan clash.
I think we should stop being surprised by these things (clashes).

Priya Gupta (BOMBAY TIMES; August 23, 2014)