Bold and Beautiful

The movie,explores the story of two people who belong to the underbelly of Mumbai. While Mukesh plays ruffian boxer One Shot Nandu,Padukone plays a blind girl Pinky,who can dance with roller skates. Despite these odds,the two hope to make it big. “The word lafanga isn’t one with negative connotations; it simply refers to people who want to break away from routine to do something different,” explains Padukone enthusiastically.

The promos have created a buzz as Mukesh promises to return with the spunk of his debut Johnny Gaddar and Padukone deviates from

the young urban characters that she has played earlier. “It was extremely challenging to

pretend to be blind,keeping your eyes focused

as if staring in space when I could actually see,”says Padukone.

What helped,she says,is rehearsing scenes blindfolded and then re-rehearsing them with eyes open to compare performances. “If there was a scene where she was to grab hold of a glass placed on a table,we would shift it a bit when she wasn’t looking so that her grapple to locate it looked real,” adds her co-star.

If playing a visually impaired girl was the leggy actor’s challenge,Mukesh had to train to box and performing bike stunts. “I didn’t know how to ride a bike till two years ago,” he exclaims. Like most children,he too was prohibited from taking to Mumbai’s crowded roads. “Though I took naturally to riding a bike,much credit goes to the action director Shyam Kaushal who trained us to perform the stunts safely.” Today,he owns a sporty Yamaha R1.

Mumbai is the third crucial character in Lafangay Parindey. “In the first five minutes of the film,you’ll be transported into a very different world— though familiar,it’s a world most of us subconsciously block out,” says Padukone. Mukesh,however,admits that unlike Padukone who is from Bangalore,he grew up watching this aspect of Mumbai. “There’s a wadi in my house’s lane and I’ve seen that world because the inhabitants are people who visit my house every year for the Ganpati festival. Yet,it took me months to prepare for this role—learning their dialect of Hindi,the pronunciations or simply understanding where their sense of bravado stems from.”

Padukone reveals that Mukesh did more than just acting: “One day the make-up man didn’t turn up on the sets and I was stranded. Though the character requires a minimal look,one has to use basic make-up. I was scared when Neil offered to help but I gave in eventually and wasn’t let down,” she says. “He was there throughout and I’ve made a friend for life.”

In an industry where relationships are often fickle,one wonders if Padukone—who got a taste of it herself when Ranbir Kapoor parted ways with her early this year—means what she says. To this,Mukesh jumps to her rescue as he jokes,“Why are you putting the doubt in her head?”