THE LULL BEFORE THE STORM THIS WEEK!

Housefull 3 is all set to release next Friday. And as it happens before the release of a biggie, multiple small films will try their luck this Friday. In all, 4 films are releasing and here’s my analysis on these flicks:

VEERAPPAN: It is directed by Ram Gopal Varma and is a remake of his Kannada film Killing Veerappan. Newcomer Sandeep Bharadwaj plays the dreaded smuggler and he does look like Veerappan. Sachiin Joshi, Lisa Ray and Usha Jadhav too feature in the film. The film looks interesting and is shot in real locations. However, it’s violent as well and hence a section of audiences will stay away from the film. Also, the buzz is very limited and Zareen Khan’s song hasn’t really helped.

PHOBIA: It is directed by Ragini MMS part 1 director Pawan Kirpalani and speaks about a woman (Radhika Apte) who suffers from phobia of open spaces. The concept is new and the film looks like a rich, qualitative product. The film does give the chills, going by the promos. Sadly, such films attract niche audiences. And the buzz is very limited.

WAITING: It stars Naseeruddin Shah and Kalki Koechlin and although the subject sounds grim, it’s not. The film’s trailer is very heartening and immediately makes one curious about the movie. Being a niche film, it won’t attract audiences in hordes but if the word of mouth is good, it can stick around in cineplexes easily for a couple of weeks.

FREDRICK: This is directed by debutant Rajesh Butalia and features Murder 2 actor Prashant Narayanan. The film looks low budget but the subject is intriguing and it can be a decent timepass suspense fare. The film has some good songs but it hasn’t got the recognition it deserves as the makers themselves have handled the music. Also, the promotion is hardly there and this will surely affect the film’s box office prospects.

The previous Hindi releases like Azhar and Sarbjit have failed and yet, these films will be at a disadvantage. In Maharashtra, these movies will face a challenge as Marathi film Sairat is still running strong while Swwapnil Joshi Anjana Sukhani-starrer Laal Ishq will also be hitting screens. This is the first Marathi production of Sanjay Leela Bhansali and the buzz is excellent. And it will be Laal Ishq that will collect maximum in Day 1 despite being a regional film.

WHICH FILM WOULD YOU LIKE TO SEE OUT OF THESE AND WHY? DO LET US KNOW!

Shabinaa Khan on wanting to be a creative producer and how her journey so far has all led up to this point
Sarita A Tanwar (DNA; May 22, 2016)


Why did you make a Marathi movie?
Because both the movies I made (Gabbar Is Back or Rowdy Rathore) were big-budget films. I always wanted to make a small film. In fact, I wanted to go and study in New York after GIB for five weeks to do a filmmaking and editing course as I wanted to learn something. I was going to be doing Rowdy 2 anyway after that, but I thought, ‘Why not make a small film and learn the same thing here?’

Do you speak Marathi?
Not many people know that I am from Kolhapur and I speak fluent Marathi. We have a house in Kolhapur. We are Marathi Muslims and that is the reason I wanted to make a Marathi film.

How did you greenlight this project?
It’s a very strange story. I bumped into the director who made the pilot for my first TV serial back in 2002 at a temple and asked her what she was doing next. I thought we could do TV again. So, we met over coffee later and she told me, ‘Why you don’t make a Marathi film? Let’s do a film with Swwapnil Joshi.’ He came to my office. We didn’t have a script at the time, but for nine months, we brainstormed. That’s how we came up with Laal Ishq.

Are you familiar with Marathi cinema?
Very. I see a lot of regional cinema. I watch all Tamil, Telugu and Marathi films. I would never do a film without knowing everything about it. I am a Libran, so I would never do something that I cannot control and if you don’t know something, you cannot control it. Every Sunday, I watch a movie with my mom. She comes to my house and after lunch, we take a nap and then I put on a movie. So, of late, because I am making a Marathi film, I’m watching a lot of Marathi cinema. I recently watched this film Katyar Kaljat Ghusli. I was so impressed with it. It has one of the finest storytelling and screenwriting I have seen. It’s an amazing history-based film about a Muslim singer and a Hindu Pandit singer.

If making a small-budget film was the driving factor, why didn’t you make a small Hindi film?
My only thing is, that I make a commercially entertaining movie, and I feel the small Hindi movies are all in a different genre completely, which is not my cup of tea. In Marathi cinema, you can even make a small budget film on the scale of a Rowdy Rathore. In three or four crores! So I’d rather do a Marathi film with a genre I am comfortable with, than a Hindi small film with a genre I am unsure of. An offbeat film is not my sensibility. I like to make and watch the same kind of films. I love making films that are entertaining. I do not like depressing films. I like films that make me laugh, make me cry, make me dance and by the end of it there is a culmination of the entire story. I don’t like question mark ends. When I enter a theatre, I want to forget all my problems. After the film ends, of course, I have to return to my problems. But for those two-three hours, I need to shut down.

Why have you only done co-productions with SLB?
Because I am really happy and comfortable making films with Sanjay. He is a hands-on producer. I am like a crybaby. Anytime I am stuck, I call him. I consider him my guru. Whatever I know about filmmaking, I have learnt from him. I am even doing mixing and background score… He has taught me so much. I was an assistant on Black. I will never leave Sanjay. I will always make films with him unless he decides to leave me.

What has making a non-Hindi film taught you?
I learnt the commercials of a small-budget film. I also learnt that there are friends in the industry. My entire team of Rowdy and Gabbar did this film at the Marathi industry pay scale. Everybody has come down to not half but to 10 per cent of their fee and I am really impressed by that.

Tell me about it
My film is an intense love story which has a backdrop of murder so you can call it an intensely romantic thriller and the story is told through the hero and the heroine who are the prime suspects.

Sounds like The Affair.
It’s like that but I didn’t have The Affair in mind. There is a very, very old foreign film Rashomon, which I love which has the same concept, but the story is original.

Did you at any point think of making it a bi-lingual?
No. When I am going in one direction, I don’t go idhar udhar. I have my two Hindi films which are there and this I always wanted to make in Marathi. But, yes it is releasing with subtitles in quite a few screens everywhere.

How did you get into production?
I stopped designing for a while and I was going through a phase of no work. I was always creatively inclined. I used to sit with Ekta (Kapoor) for script sittings, etc when that phase was happening and I would crib to her. They say everyone has three or four angels that come in their life. Ekta is one of them in my life, who made me make a serial and she launched my company. So I made two serials in 2002.

What did you know about production at the time?
Very little. She did everything. She helped me. She would sit with me for editing and say take this out, do that, put this background and I made 45 episodes that made money. Today, whatever I am in production, is because of these three people — Ekta Kapoor, Shobha Kapoor and Sanjay Bhansali.

Please continue...
Then I tried from 2002 till 2010 to make serials, but nothing worked. I think because TV was booming at the time, so everybody was getting into it. In 2009, I told Sanjay, ‘Let’s make movies together.’ I knew Sanjay because I had designed clothes for Khamoshi and Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam. Then, for Devdas, he worked with Abu-Sandeep. Then in Black, I was the AD and didn’t do the clothes.

Why did you become an AD?
Because I wanted to learn filmmaking. I never wanted to do clothes. I was only doing clothes because I was getting to go to London to shop, and I was enjoying all that. I had no inclination, though I had the flair for it. So when I told Sanjay, ‘Let’s make movies together.” He said, ‘Yes, get a script. So for four years, we looked around, but nothing interested me and nothing interested him.’ In the meantime, I was doing Akshay’s and Ajay’s clothes. I was doing a lot of films… Then one fine day, I thought that Akshay needed a change after seven-eight years of the same Hera Pheris and Housefulls, I thought: Let’s get him back with action. Without meeting Akshay, I went to meet Prabhu Dheva. I said, ‘Prabhu Sir, I want you to direct a film for me and I want Akshay. I want you to him bring back to action.’ This was soon after Wanted. He said, ‘I am on.’ I came back and I told Sanjay about Prabhu sir and he said also said he was on. He said, ’I see the spark in you and you’ll do it. I asked him, ‘So can I tell Akshay, you and I are doing this film and ask him if he wants to do it?” Sanjay gave me the go-ahead. Then I met Akshay. When I spoke to Akshay, he was doing Khatta Meetha. I was doing his clothes for that film, and one day, I said to him ‘Akshay, I want to do a film’. He asked, ‘Kaun direct kar raha hai?’ I told him. ‘Who is the partner?’, he asked. I said Bhansali. ‘Chalo I am on,’ said Akshay. Then I went looking for a script and then I got Rajamouli’s second film to be remade in Hindi.

That’s a crazy beginning.
(Smiles) It’s a long journey and it’s my 26th year in the industry. My designing career also began like that, haphazardly. I was in college with Salman. He used to sit behind me. We knew each other since school. I don’t even remember how it began, but he’d finished Maine Pyar Kiya and was looking for a new designer. I went to become an air hostess in Saudi. I resigned in one day and came back. In those days, it paid like three lakh a month. It was most prestigious, as there was no Emirates and all that then. I came back and I was in depression, wondering what to do. My parents were like ‘We asked you not to do it’. So Salman said ‘Listen, just do my clothes’. I told him I don’t know anything about designing. He said, ‘I also don’t know acting, we’ll do it together’. And then I worked with Salman for 17 years!

Do you want to direct someday?
I don’t want to direct. I don’t want to be the captain of the ship. (Laughs) I like to fire the gun from someone else’s shoulder. I like to be a creative producer because, as a director I would have to take certain calls which could be right, could be wrong. I want someone else to take those calls so that I can tell that person ‘Arre yeh mat karo, yeh karo’.

You have the reputation of being a devil of a boss. Comment.
(Smiles) I just feel that other people always find people who are super-efficient, to be monsters.

Not true.
With filmmaking, it’s different.

How so?
Because there are certain things that you need to do at a certain time. There are time limits, there are deliveries, there are date hassles, there are too many irritants.

Not everyone is a monster.
Farah (Khan) is also a monster. I think people who are that highly talented, they all have some quirks. Everybody has them and I am a Libran. When I lose it, I really lose it.

He plays the lead role in Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s first Marathi production, Laal Ishq
Chaya Unnikrishnan (DNA; May 14, 2016)

He is a popular Marathi film actor with several hits including Mumbai Pune Mumbai, Duniyadaari and Mitwa to his credit. On TV, Swwapnil Joshi has been part of successful Marathi shows like Eka Lagnachi Dusri Ghoshta and Madhu Ethe Ani Chandra Tithe. Hindi viewers know him from many serials like Krishna, Amanat, Bhabhi among others and Comedy Circus. Known as the Shah Rukh Khan of Marathi cinema, Swapnil will soon be seen in Sanjay Leela Bhansali and Shabina Khan’s first Marathi venture, Laal Ishq. Here the loverboy of Marathi cinema talks about his upcoming film and the role that is all set to change his image.

What was your reaction when you were offered Laal Ishq?
The answer may sound clichéd, but it was a dream come true. Every actor, every technician, every director wants to be associated with the magic of Sanjay Leela Bhansali. It was a great honour for me to get the lead role in his first Marathi venture. There are some moments you remember for a life time and the call I got from his office is one of those. I was sitting in my office when I got a call saying Shabina Khan wants to talk me. She told me that she and Bhansali were producing a Marathi film and would love to cast me in the lead role. Jab aisa phone aata hai toh na kehna ki gunjaish nahi hoti. Besides, the film is being directed by Swapna Waghmare-Joshi and our last film together — Mitwa — was a big hit. It has become a cult love story.

You have always played romantic roles in Marathi films. How will this be different?
Yes, this film is also romantic, but it’s a thriller. It will present me in a completely different light. It’s a genre I have never experimented with nor have I been exposed to. The way it is written, the characterisation, the presentation — everything is different. In fact, this will take me away from my image as a loverboy. This role might raise eyebrows as it has grey shades, which has not been associated with my body of work.

So, is this the most challenging role you have done so far?
I play a middle-class boy Yash Patwardhan, who becomes a huge film star and is trying to get back to his roots. What happens then is my part of the story. Every role comes with its own challenges, but by far this is the riskiest role I have done as an actor. Every actor has an image and after a point you start liking that image. Somewhere you get into a comfort zone. So, when you venture into an unknown territory, the outcome is challenging and scary at the same time. This role takes me there. I have this image of a boy-next-door and I have people calling me dada, (elder brother), bhau, and mothers think their sons should be like me. I have a completely positive image. Now, this film has me playing a shrewd character, that leads to darkness and cut-throatedness. I wouldn’t mind if I get a wicked image after this (laughs).

This film also sees Anjana Sukhani making her Marathi debut. How was it working with her?
I always say that it’s the heroines’ beauty and performance that enhances my work and image as a loverboy. Heroines have made me look handsome and Anjana is no exception. Language was a huge barrier for her, and it is especially, difficult to get the nuances right. But Anjana worked hard, she had a Marathi tutor and we did a lot of workshops. Also, everyday after pack-up, we used to sit for one-and-a-half hour working on her diction, the pauses and landing of a particular sentence. The entire unit was Maharashtrian so we used to tease her a lot too. We also taught her a few Marathi abuses though she didn’t know that! Overall, it’s been an enriching experience working with her.

You share a good onscreen chemistry with Mukta Barve and have given several hit films together. What is the secret?
We are extremely thick friends and it has nothing to do with how often we work or we don’t work. We can trust each other blindly and I think that forms a unique bonding, which translates into what you call chemistry. There is an X factor and whenever we get together it’s magic.

You are known as the Shah Rukh Khan of Marathi cinema because of the way you romance on screen —even some of your gestures are same!
(Laughs). I don’t think so, but if it is true, I take it as a compliment. I am a huge fan of Shah Rukh. For me, romance is SRK. But I must stop at that. All my life I have struggled hard to be Swwapnil Joshi. I am a realistic guy. Shah Rukh is huge. No doubt, he is inspiring and has a lot of energy. I have met him formally on a few occasions and done his TV show Ghar Ki Baatein. He is a gracious gentleman.

In recent times, Marathi cinema has made great strides and has attracted Bollywood filmmakers too. What is the reason?
Yes, on the one hand, it is becoming big and commercial and on the other hand it is not letting go of the rawness and earthiness of Marathi cinema. It’s a complete win-win situation. In Marathi, we have a saying, ‘haath ganganala lagave pan paay zameenevar rahave’. It means you should reach the sky but your feet should be on the ground. That’s exactly what is happening with Marathi cinema.

Is it true that you are doing Shah Rukh Khan and Rohit Shetty’s Marathi film?
I don’t want to comment on that.

What next?
I am doing an out-and-out comedy Fuggy with Subodh Bhave. A black comedy, it’s in the Jaane Bhi Do Yaaron and Andaz Apna Apna zone. I am excited about it because it’s the first time I will be doing that kind of comedy.