ROHIT SHETTY: SOUTH IS MAKING INDIAN FILMS

Rohit, the man behind blockbuster Golmaal series, is ready to entertain the audience through its fourth instalment. The filmmaker believes in putting all the efforts so as to upgrade the level of every film he makes

A s the popular comedy franchise Golmaal brings on its fourth instalment, the man behind this entertaining series – Rohit Shetty – in a freewheeling chat with Box Office India reveals that Golmaal was nothing but an accident. Shetty also shares some interesting nuggets about his upcoming film Golmaal Again!!!, and his thoughts on the evolving audience. Read on We should start with 11 years of Golmaal. It was 11 years ago, in 2006, that the first instalment from

the Golmaal series released, from then to Golmaal Again…

Rohit Shetty (RS): (Laughs), 11 years of Golmaal, yeah it’s like a full circle. While making Golmaal, we never thought this would turn into this series. We were just making a comedy film, we didn’t know it would become a cult film one day and we would be making so many parts. It was just a regular story. And even that had happened accidentally. I was working with Shree Ashtavinayak Cine Vision Ltd, I was making a thriller with Ajay Devgn, and Neeraj Vora said to me, ‘I want to narrate a script to you.’ He had done a play then and he narrated the play to me. I liked it. Then, Neeraj gave the same narration to Ajay, who also liked it and said, ‘Haan, let’s do this.’ So the thriller was set aside and Golmaal was made. That’s how it started. So Golmaal was actually an accident, which turned out to be a fruitful accident for me. When you decided to make Golmaal Returns, sequels were not really a trend. What prompted you to make a sequel?

RS: I just felt like it. People were saying I should continue with this franchise and when I got a script, I was, like, ‘Okay let’s make this and see what happens.’ So we made Golmaal Returns, and when that did well, we thought ab isko nahin chhodenge. It’s the only franchise that’s going really strong and steady…

RS: I think Munna Bhai is also very strong, Dhoom is very strong too, and Golmaal is like a household brand. Everybody loves it. Does that make you feel more responsible?

RS: Not really, I am not thinking from that point of view. For me, it’s like trying to tap into the audience’s mind, what they want and their expectations. In this film, there will be fun, there will be music and all the rest of the Golmaal elements. This is also the first time after the first Golmaal that all the characters will be there in the film. Somehow we have tried to incorporate all the other characters like Vrajes Hirjee’s character, Mukesh Tiwari’s character, Sanjay Mishra’s character or for that matter anyone’s character…

everyone has solid and pivotal roles in Golmaal Again. It must have been challenging to put all of them together and make sure that everybody had good screen presence…

RS: More than that, what was challenging was shooting with them. 18 actors multiplied by 4, just imagine in one frame there are 100 people standing, then you shout at them and run around. Throughout the shoot, I was doing just that, shouting at them and running around. You will rarely come across a film with so many characters and so many favorite characters. They know who is Pappi Bhai, they know who is Vasooli Bhai, who is that snake guy… so I wanted to bring everyone together.as it is, we are coming back after a long time and luckily the way we have written the script and the way it turned out, everyone has a great role. Over the years, all these characters acquired their own fan following, apart from the lead characters there are fans of Vrajesh Hirjee’s character, Mukesh Tiwari’s character, Sanjay Mishra’s character… You have to fulfill all those people’s expectations too.

RS: Yeah, that’s true. In Golmaal 3, Hirjee was not all that strong, Mukesh Tiwari was not all that strong but in this film everybody has a strong character. I would say, in Golmaal Again, they are stronger than they were in the first Golmaal. Whether it is Mukesh Tiwari or Sanjay Mishra or Johnny Lever… Johnny joined us in Part Three or Vrajesh Hirjee, for that matter, all of them have strong characters. What was your reaction before the release of the trailer and what is your reaction now?

RS: I am more confident since people love it. It is a 3-minute trailer and it’s almost the film we have shown the audience. It’s been a long time since a good commercial film has released, so you know that people want to watch this kind of film. I think this film will give them what they want and what they are expecting. So, obviously, you are happier and more confident that haan chalegi. In these last three months of the year, October, November and December, expectations are really high from three big releases

– Golmaal Again, Padmavati and then Tiger Zinda Hai…

RS: (Cuts in) Even Judwaa 2 this week has opened big. I think Judwaa 2, Padmavati, Tiger

Zinda Hai… I hope all these films do well along with my film. And why only these biggies, I want others movies also to do well. It’s not that I just want my film to do well. Padmavati should also do very well and Tiger Zinda Hai should also do very well. These films should break all the records so that we are even, at least at the box office. Nobody thinks of the exhibitors and distributors… if all these films do well, it will make for financial stability. South movies are doing very well at the box office…

RS: Because the South is making Indian films, they are making South “Indian” films. Here, we don’t know what we are doing. We are confused whether to make Iranian films, Hollywood films or films that cater to social media or that media or this media… everybody is confused. In such a confused scenario, you continue to make comedies, which is already a difficult genre to deal with and ensure that each film is better than the previous one.

RS: All we can do is try and work hard. The rest is up to the audience. All we can do is try and take a risk. Even though trends have changed, you can’t suddenly imagine that all these characters have become serious. Then what will happen to Golmaal? All you can do is try hard and see that you are giving the audience what they want. Golmaal Again has this interesting ghost element…

RS: The ghost is the new element and because of the ghost, we could expand the genre and the visuals. I think the kids will love it, everyone regardless of age will like it. We were wondering what we could do with Golmaal Again. We tried to crack different stories but we couldn’t come up with something satisfactory. It was not like ki, okay, it is going one notch up but here we are very confident that it has actually gone one notch up and people will like it. You are known to work with the same core team. How do you manage to keep them excited about every project and ensure that they don’t fall into a

rut or get too comfortable to be creative?

RS: We try to upgrade ourselves with every film. People assume that since it is a commercial film, it’s not taken very seriously. But there is six-seven months of work that goes into it. Like, how can we change the visual; how can we change the special effects; since we have so many facilities, how can we make it bigger? Tickets are so expensive, and for a middle-class guy watching my film with his family, it would cost him almost 10 per cent of his salary. I am the producer of the film and I could have made a small film out of Golmaal and saved a lot of money. But, for me, I believe the audience should experience what I used to experience when I was small and watch movies in Gaiety, Galaxy and watch 70-mm cinema, which is rarely made now. Very few directors make that kind of cinema. That’s why you should make such a good film. When people watch it on their laptops, they should say, ‘No, yeh toh theatre mein dekhna chahiye.’ You often work with Ajay Devgn, who is a dear friend of yours. While it can be comfortable working with a friend, the equation could also get awkward when you have to instruct them on retaking shots or when you need to tell them that you did not like something they have done.

RS: No, we have never felt any such awkwardness. During Singham Returns, we shot a whole scene on the first day and edited it that same evening. I showed it to him and we agreed that it was not working out and did it again. After so many years of working together, I trust that if he has something to say, it is coming from his vast experience and nowhere else. Speaking of perceptions… Do you think that if a film like Newton gets international validation from doing the festival circuit of getting an Oscar nomination, it becomes more acceptable back home? RS: There’s been an audience for that kind of cinema for years; it’s not as if films like these have suddenly started releasing and people are beginning to appreciate them. There is an audience for every kind of cinema. But publicity has become so expensive that there are now so many means for films like Netwon to get publicity.