Basanti ko kisne bheegaya?
(Laughs) Iss Basanti ko meine khud hi bheegaya. Par hamari filmo mein toh bohot saalo se basanti bheeg rahi hai.
When we talk about wet damsels, think about wet sarees, it’s the quintessential Hindi film heroine that comes to mind. I thought as an actress, if I’m opening my own production house then why not something that is a bit tongue-in-cheek. That was the idea behind starting up a production house called ‘Bheegi Basanti’.
Did you have to convince Mahesh Bhupathi into producing Chalo Dilli?
No, I didn’t have to do any convincing at all. Mahesh is an avid film watcher. He’s been a serious fan of Hindi films for the longest time. For example, if you asked him the name of the music director of a movie that released in 1947. He’s the kind of fan who would have an answer to that too. He always wanted to do something with films; I just think that the opportunity presented itself in the right way at the right time.
How did Chalo Dilli come about?
Shashant Shah, the director of Chalo Dilli, is very good friends with Vinay Pathak. Both Vinay and Shashant have worked with the writer Arshad Syed previously on Dasvidanya.
During the making of Dasvidaniya, Shashant approached me with a concept of the filmChalo Dilli. They wanted me to essay the character of Mihika Bannerjee. It was purely an acting job. Shashant didn’t have a producer in place at the time. I really loved the script. I think its one of those rare films that you come across as an actor, where you get an opportunity to actually “perform” rather than just being limited to wearing great clothes and dancing around. I already had plans to start Bheegi Basanti and this seemed like a perfect film to start it with.
Chalo Dilli is a film that’s high on content. It’s got a great actor associated with it—Vinay Pathak—and I was able to bring on Eros and Big Daddy Productions, who were very interested as well. So, basically, things just fell into place.
Many call Chalo Dilli an adaptation of Robert Downey Jr starrer Due Date.
That’s a new gossip! I haven’t heard about Chalo Dilli being an adaptation of Due Date. It’s a common practice to draw parallels to older/foreign films. I am not denying that in the past some films have been “inspired” by Hollywood films. It’s actually quite sad. But, I think apart from the fact that there are two characters in this film and they’re traveling from point A to point B, all comparisons stop right there.
Chalo Dilli is quite unique in its own story line. And I assume that once people go into the theaters on April 29, and actually see the film they’ll figure it out for themselves.
Are you a Dilli lover?
Yeah, absolutely! I was born in Ghaziabad, which is not so far from Delhi. So I grew up in and around Delhi. My grand mum lived there till the time she passed away.
Care to elaborate on the music of Chalo Dilli. What's your favorite track?
The music is a very integral part of the film because there’s no dream sequence, or song and dance routine. The music actually moves the film along. All the songs are very situational. They’re all a part of the journey, so it was really crucial that the sounds, the beats that were used in the film gave you a feel of ‘real India’. The sound tracks had a little bit of folk and bhangra, basically a little bit of everything that you come across when you’re making a journey through that region.
We were very happy to get Gourav Dasgupta on board, who’s done the music for Chalo Dilli, and a young wonderful talent—Raja Hassan—who’s sung the title song. One of the most respected in the industry, Sukhwinder Singh has sung my favorite track ‘Matarghashtiya’. June Bannerjee came on board and took up the very daunting task of singing for the remix of ‘Laila O Laila’. I think she’s done a phenomenal job because there had to be that certain amount of ‘appeal’ in the voice when you’re singing a song like ‘Laila.’
But, like I said, there’s no lip sync in the film. At the same time, we’re really happy and excited as the music has been accepted really well since its hit the stores.
'Laila o laila' has Yana Gupta grooving. Which song remake would you personally like to star in?
There are so many wonderful, great old iconic songs out there. I guess somebody has to just hit on the one that works best. But, one of my all time favorites, also because I’m a big Madhuri fan, was ‘Choli ke peeche kya hai’. I really think somebody should remix that
What can we expect next from Bheegi Basanti?
We’ve just started off and Chalo Dilli is our first project. Right now, we’re all busy getting our maiden venture on the road, literally! But, we’re already in planning for the second production and I’d really like to do entertaining, interesting stories that are quite simple. They don’t have to be big budget, commercial or formula films. The kind of stuff that I would be interested in doing with Bheegi Basanti would be slices of real life entertainment.
When would you roll out your next production?
Probably the second half of this year, the second production should be ready to roll!
Any upcoming projects, as an actor?
We just finished wrapping Don 2 and it’s now gone into post production. I’ve released the second series of Heal With Lara DVDs, which is on fitness and health. We’ve got the third coming out in June. I’m doing my own line of footwear and shoes, which should be out by the end of summer this year. So yeah lots going on - planning the new film, the new production and plenty more stuff!
We keep hearing about a lot of stories about wolves and cockroaches during the shoot. Care to tell us about some more stories on the set. Any memorable pranks?
When you’re working on a film and everybody’s involved, there’s always something or the other that you do to entertain yourself. So every film, there are lot of great moments that happen on set. I think that’s what makes the film fun and makes the unit feel like family. Everybody is stuck together literally for those three months that you’re filming. You learn little nuances about each other and you try and play up on them. Obviously, they figured out that I’m petrified of cockroaches and played that to the hilt!
Did you play a prank on someone?
The biggest prank that I can play on everybody is withholding their cheques. (laughs) I’m sure they don’t want that! No, I’m actually quite focused on work and if things happen on set, it’s like you’re just pulling somebody’s leg. Only my wonderful co-stars Akshay Kumar, Ajay Devgn and Abhishek Bachchan would plan large scale sabotage prank events!
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