Actor Shreyas Talpade's first outing as a director has certainly made an impact. The versatile actor, who is known for his roles in films such as Iqbal, Dor and the Golmaal franchise films, has remade the Marathi film Poshter Boyz in Hindi starring Sunny and Bobby Deol, and Shreyas himself. The actor has managed to deliver a commercial success with a decent run at the box office. In a chat with Indulge, he talks about his new role and Golmaal Again.
Did you always want to direct?
Not really, I remember when I would act in college plays, I was not confident at all as a director. I would write but never tried direction. Only when I was producing Poshter Boyz, I gathered some confidence of telling a story. When Sunny (Deol) paaji heard my narration, he insisted I should direct. I said, 'directing you will be a challenge, sir,' and he said, 'there is no challenge, whatever you have narrated now, you need to put that out on screen,' that's when I thought I might as well do it.
Why were you keen on casting Sunny Deol?
Someone said a very nice thing, 'when you see Sunny paaji on the poster it seems like James Bond is on a poster about vasectomy,' (laughs). That was funny and I thought, yeah, James Bond is shaken not stirred (laughs). Apart from being an exceptionally good actor, he is known as the mard (He-man) of the film industry. I thought of him even while I was rewriting the story in Hindi.
How was it to work with both the Deols?
Many people cautioned me saying that since Sunny paaji is also a director he might takeover direction, but not once did he question or interfere with my vision. Bobby and I did several workshops together before starting the film because Bobby was making a comeback after a long time, he said, 'I haven't worked in the last four years and my confidence level is not really great so it's better we do these workshops so that I prepare well.'
You have worked with the best of directors in the industry, any learnings from them that you have implemented?
Every director I have worked with comes from a different school of thought. Nagesh (Kukunoor) follows a different discipline, he is extremely particular about certain things. If he says I need to take two steps and look at a particular point, I need to do that. Shyam (Benegal) babu gives a lot of room for improvisation. He says if he doesn't like a particular thing he will edit it but he doesn't want the actor's thought process to stop. Farah (Khan) has a 70 mm vision about her film. Rohit (Shetty) pretty much understands the pulse of the audience he caters to, he gives people the worth for their money. All these things have in some way shaped me as a director.
Poster Boys could have turned into a sleazy comedy, wasn't it a difficult film to make?
The topic is pretty sensitive and I wanted to make a clean family entertainer. Even if it meant compromising on a few comedy punches, I was willing to do that but I did not want to take the route of a double-meaning sex comedy - this is something I focused on.
How has it been getting back with the old Golmaal team again?
All of us are getting back together for Golmaal Returns after seven years since our last outing. The energy and madness hasn't changed. But when we started shooting, sur milne mein time lag gaya (it took time for us to get into the zone). Rohit showed us some sequences from Golmaal 3 and said this is what you guys have done and we need to recreate it again. It's always fantastic working with Rohit. There are absolutely no insecurities. He makes sure every actor gets highlighted for his/her role.We all support each other to deliver better.
When Kamaal R Khan trolled you on Twitter about Poster Boys, you seemed to have lost your cool...
(Laughs) I was absolutely serious. I am okay if someone is giving their opinion. But there is a way of doing it. You cannot get personal and start using cuss words. That's why I had to stoop that low and give it back to him in his own language.
ayeshatabassum@newindianexpress.com
@aishatax