There have been many films about girlfriends bonding and films on road trips with friends. But Jia Aur Jia, Kalki Koechlin and Richa Chaddha’s upcoming film,brings these two genres together. That’s what the promo and the Nach Basanti song project. The next promotional video, titled Burstin’ On Diwali, featuring the actors and rapper Sofia Ashraf, will be released on Blush, a digital channel by Mumbai-based digital media company Culture Machine. In the music video the actresses will be rapping with Sofia about all the other things that people can “burst” instead of crackers such as, “bursting a balloon, bursting that ugly pimple to bursting into a song”.
“Blush does things differently and Jia Aur Jia is based on a similar idea of going off the beaten track. We decided to partner with them for this fun video since Diwali is just around the corner,” says Kalki. Though the film is yet to hit the screens, it is already being compared to earlier road films. “That’s like saying all road trip films are the same or all love stories are the same. Each one has its own story and I don’t think there are many films in India about women going on a road trip, so this is different,” says Kalki. While it may seem like just two women are having a ball of a time in Sweden (where the film has been entirely shot), Kalki and Richa both retort saying, “We were a bunch of Indians — shooting and jumping into ice cold rivers (part of the film) and just having fun.” But while it was a lot of fun, the actors also admit it was quite challenging to shoot during October and November when the temperature was dipping. “The film is set in summer, but it was already late October, so it was really cold. At times our teeth would chatter while saying our lines,” says Kalki.
Though both actors have showcased their acting prowess by choosing unique characters with every film, Richa’s role is certainly distinct from her previous characters in films such as Masaan and Sarbjit. She plays an urban woman, a banker in this film. “I think it’s the film industry and people within the industry who put you in different boxes — this is a serious actress, or this one is an independent actress, the other is a commercial actress. I haven’t made a conscious decision to choose roles. But this role is different for me, and I do hope people see the difference,” says Richa, while Kalki adds, “This film is about two girls with different personalities who inspire each other, the film is not about rivalry and there is definitely no love angle with a boy. It’s about living life at the moment.”
Burstin’ On Diwali releases on October 16. Details: blush.me
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