Features: Magazine | Literary Review | Life | Metro Plus | Open Page | Education Plus | Book Review | Business | SciTech | Friday Review | Cinema Plus | Young World | Property Plus | Quest |

As the original

no comebacks Priyadarshan: ‘I don’t want to make regional films anymore’

Directed by Siby Malayil the Malayalam film Ishtam was a super hit in 2002. And Priyadarshan says he “had been eyeing it to convert it into Hindi”. And so he did, as Mere Baap Pehele Aap, released this Friday.

The story is the same, but obviously the screenplay and the characters are new. The film, a hilarious take on a son’s effort to marry off his widower father, comes with a message. Priyan, as the director is known, promises the message is in the final scenes.

Priyan has made the film shorter “by 20 minutes” and did quite a role reversal for many. For instance, “Naseeruddin Shah was supposed to play the father’s role that Paresh Rawal is playing now, “but Naseer didn’t have dates”. Paresh was supposed to play Mathur, the role that has now gone to Om Puri while Naseer is doing a cameo. Akshaye Khanna was decided earlier because “he has worked with me in Hungama and Hulchul. It’s not the actor I have faith in but his performance.” And there is Rajpal Yadav, who is known for loud comedy.

“Rajpal may be loud because he is a theatre actor, but he can fluctuate according to the given role. See him in Chandni Bar and Main Meri Patni Aur Voh,” defends Priyan.

Priyan has a special way of working, and being arrogant is a part of that. “I am considered quite arrogant on the sets — a trait I maintain to make comedy seriously. My team never has a bash on the sets. I don’t allow singing, dancing joking while shooting. I believe, if the onlookers and the crew on the sets are laughing while doing or shooting a scene, then the audience would not laugh. If one acts while joking around, he exhausts his energy before I say ‘action’. As a result while performing, he loses that punch that is required to tickle the funny bone,” asserts Priyan, adding that making Hindi remakes of hit Southern films gives him more happiness than making a film in the regional language.

“So limited are the budgets in southern cinema that a filmmaker like me often ends up compromising on the content, locations and good dubbing artistes who come for a price. Earlier, within this budget, we used to make very good films but now everything is so expensive — from equipment to fabrics, which Hindi cinema is just loaded with. It has more money, See, Mere Baap… is produced by Shemaroo, and they didn’t care about the budget. So I chose the best locations possible in Goa and Mumbai. I don’t want to make regional films anymore. Bollywood is my home now,” concludes the filmmaker.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail