Showbiz Buddies

Ranvir Shorey and Vinay Pathak on their long partnership and their latest film together,Bajatey Raho

The acting careers of Ranvir Shorey and Vinay Pathak have been strangely intertwined. Individually,they have followed the same trajectory from starting as funnymen on television 15 years ago in Channel Vs popular show Oye,to being critically acclaimed performers in character-driven roles in films. Funny,poignant and heart-rending all at once,they have even turned unlikely winning leads in films such as Mithya (Shorey) and Bheja Fry (Pathak),and demonstrated great control of their own talent on stage in plays such as The Blue Mug.

Together,they have had such shared success and visibility across films,television and theatre that there is an instant recall value associated with the duo,much like Hollywood actors Rob Schneider and Adam Sandler. According to Pathak,the uniqueness of the duo lies in their innate ability to try out new things with ease,chemistry and madness,defying being typecast as much as possible. There are many filmmakers who wanted to cast us together. If we start doing those projects,most of them would look the same. So weve been choosy, says Shorey.

The long-time friends will be now seen in Bajatey Raho,a film directed by their friend and collaborator Shashant Shah. Shah,Shorey and Pathak go back to the time he directed the duo in the television show The Great Indian Comedy Circus. Pathak has also been a constant in both his previous films Dasvidaniya and Chalo Dilli.

The new film is being pitched as a revenge drama and the plot,a tad similar to that of Khosla Ka Ghosla,is also set in Delhi. It shows the triumph of the middle-class underdog over the powerful,rich and corrupt in the garb of a comedy. But,Shorey insists,

Bajatey Raho takes the idea of Khosla Ka Ghosla which he was a part of forward. Bajatey Raho takes one of its threads and realises it through a whole film. If Khosla Ka Ghosla were a TV series,Bajatey Raho could be the next episode, says Shorey.

This is their first appearance together since the insignificant The Film Emotional Attyachar in 2010,indicating the career slump both have been going through. While Pathak acted in leading roles in forgettable films such as Chalo Dilli,Pappu Cant Dance Saala,and even attempted a comeback with the sequel of his famous Bheja Fry,Shoreys promising filmography has been abruptly shortened in the last few years,even after his masterly turn as the tragic leading man in Mithya. Id think that I would rather die than get slotted as an actor; but then I would wake up and realise that I had my electricity bills to pay, says Shorey, about taking up bit roles in big-budget entertainers,the recent one being Ek Tha Tiger.

Pathak talks about the vagaries of showbiz. It is because the films didnt earn money that offers stopped. It is a phase that the industry makes you go through,but I still stick to the same rule while selecting films I have to like the script, he says. In this film,to release in July,Shorey and Pathak play characters who have been wronged by an entrepreneur. While Ravi Kishan plays the entrepreneur,the cast also includes Tusshar Kapoor and Dolly Ahluwalia.

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