Getting back to direction after eight years, Director Akashdeep talks to Viraj Sawant about his new innings in Bollywood and gathering a mammoth of a cast for his upcoming film Santa Banta Pvt Ltd.
His last film, Ghaath marked the debut of Irrfan Khan and starred actors like Manoj Bajpai, Tabu, Raveena Tandon and Om Puri. The film was critically acclaimed and won many awards. After his first film, Subroto Rai Sahara offered him the post of CEO at Sahara film company.
Apprehensive about the offer, he still took the job and became Bollywood’s first CEO.
“I joined him and I become Bollywood’s first CEO. It was after this that K Sera Sera, Eros and Disney forayed into this market. I was busy with Sahara for 5 years then I did a television show called Johnny Ala Re. My final calling is cinema so I started looking around for scripts, met a few writers. When I met people they knew me as the CEO of Sahara but not what I did eight years back,” says Akashdeep, walking down memory lane.
He knew starting his new innings in Bollywood after eight whole years wouldn’t be easy. “A whole new culture had come into Bollywood. So I thought why will someone invest in my film? For them I would be a first time director. I’ll have to look for thing that’s bigger than me and my actors. That’s when I stumbled upon Santa Banta. The fact that these funsters of folklore, don’t have a face to them was the biggest tragedy.”
But haven’t we heard of Santa & Banta in jokes before? “I went to Trademark and Copy Right Association of India. I was told that the first rights of this brand Santa Banta were with Radio City. They wanted to do a radio programme with SiddharthKanan and Baba Sehgal called Santa Banta so they got a trademark for the brand. Years later somebody did it for Santabanta.com and they had the licence for film, television and mobile content. Then I registered it in London and in US. This, I thought was a brand that could entice an actor and by that I mean for an actor to work with a director who has been off the grid for eight years. It would attract a corporate more than the director’s name. Even though Ghaath was well acclaimed by all, but a generation had come in after that. So when I announced Santa Banta, I started getting calls from Eros, Viacom and UTV. Viacom was very aggressive and they sealed the deal with me. Viacom was clear for a fact that this was a franchise. They were interested in this for it being a ready brand.
Will there be a sequel to Santa Banta Pvt Ltd?
Normally, a Golmaal clicks and you make a sequel to it. But here you have Santa Banta, funsters of forklore and automatically India’s last brand. Brands like Bal Ganesh is done, CHachaChoudhary is done. Here we have a brand that falls in the comedy genre and has a shelf life. Eras of action and drama films keep changing but you always love watching a comedy film even after a many years.
Discussions with Viacom led me to the new age actors. Viacom told me that they were looking at many more sequels to the first part. So I had to look for actors who would do comedy that the audience likes now. Comedy which is not over the top. The new thing in comedy is stand up. Take a mic and with a straight face you crack joikes and win over the audience. SO the two big wigs who belong to a new style of comedy which is underplayed. Mr BomanIrani and Vir Das were the ones that came to my mind. Also their appearance plays a big role here. One is tall, one is short, one is young and the other is a little old and both of them have done a lot of new comedy. Also an awesome ensemble of Lisa Haydon, Neha DHupia, Johnny Lever, Vijay Razz and Sanjay Mishra, VrijeshHirje and cameos by SonuNigham, Ranjeet and VikasBhalla.
So many comedians in one film, was it tough to get so many on board?
I am really good at convincing. If I had to convince six more people to join the cast, I would have done that. They all agreed instantly. I have been a failed actor in television and films but I am a gold medallist in Management. So this wasn’t a tough task. Brand Santa Banta enticed everybody and the script played a major role. From our side we took a simple plot and turned it into an interesting story.”
Since Santa Banta are associated with jokes in India, are all the jokes in the film inspired from them?
People think it’s going to be a collection of jokes but if you are going to watch the film for a collection of jokes or slapstick humour then you are going to be disappointed. This is cinema after all. It has to have a plot middle and an ending. I can’t just pile up jokes and make a film out of it. If it works on the 22nd we will push the madness and make more such films for audience of all generations. I have known of many Fridays that have a different story to tell.”
Directing a film after eight years, how have things changed in the industry?
It was completely different. Everything works far more professionally when a corporate is in place. They have a lot to say and control. A lot of things are done in tandem with them. Cinema was an isolated trip of a director or a producer earlier. Technology has taken over. I see what I have shot instantly and by night it’s edited. If I feel I need to take a retake for a particular shot, ic an do it before that set is taken down. As a director, I had always compromised in Ghaath because it was a small film with a mid-size producer. I see actors who are far more intelligent and are exposed to world cinema and who are opinionated. Far more rounded off than dumb actors who would do what the director says. It’s more of a team work than it was a few years back. An actor is also discussing with you the promotions would go ahead. As a director you like inputs from everyone working on the film. You can’t be egoistic and say that I am the director I don’t need inputs form you. Boman would sit on the edits. He is BomanIrani, he can walk in anytime he wants. But he’ll call and ask me if he can come and he would come happily. When actors tell you that they can give you a better shot than the previous one, they are putting a lot into it. Actors like Vir and Boman are looking at their role from a different perspective and they want to make sure the film does well. They don’t just come on the set, do their thing and leave. My attention as a director will be diverted but his view will be very focussed.
