The Badlapur Journey

Dinesh Vijan: I don’t look at badla as revenge,but as a change (badlav). Some people believe they can’t change, but I believe that we can.

Nawazuddin, tell us something about your role and the inspiration behind it.

DV : Nawazzudin is the devil in the film, but not like the devil in Kick.

NS : I am the surprise element of the film. We haven’t revealed anything about my part, so let it remain that way. About my inspiration, ever since I had watched Sriram Raghavan’s Raman Raghav, I had nurtured the desire to work with him. When we were discussing the script of Badlapur, he explained it in two lines: the story is about two characters who go through a change. It was this description that
excited me and made me want to do the film.

Is it true that the director, Sriram Raghavan played mind games with you all to get natural shots?

DV: Sriram has a unique style of making a film. He goes up to each actor and whispers something in their ears. He will say different things to each one of them before canning the scene. I remember this particular scene in which Varun had to hit Nawazuddin. But I am unaware what Sriram went and told him.

Varun, what did he say?

VD: He whispered in my ears ‘maar de’. He told something else to Nawazuddin. So, we built our emotions in such a manner that when we faced the camera, I actually hit Nawazuddin hard and he was hurt.

Nawazuddin, you were not given proper dialogues for this film, so how did you prepare for the scenes? Was it difficult?

NS: We would be briefed before every scene. When I faced the camera, I would improvise and deliver the dialogues. It wasn’t difficult at all as we were all very involved with the entire process, and if you are completely involved and into the skin of the character then it becomes easy to emote.

Did you anticipate such a huge response to the film?

VD : It’s actually a very small budget film. I am very excited and have got a positive response from the media towards this film.

DV : The first teaser is something that intrigues you and I am glad that it received a stupendous response.

What was Varun’s response to the teaser of the film?

DV:We had all gathered at Varun’s house and I asked him whether he would watch the teaser on my phone. To enhance the effect, Varun connected the speakers to my phone. And the result was amazing. After hearing it, Varun had an excited glint in his eyes and he refused to show it to anyone. But as the night progressed, the people gathered at his house including

Davidji saw the teaser, and they all loved it. You are being very secretive about the film.

VD: I think we have safeguarded Nawazuddin’s character very well.

DV: We have kept Nawazuddin’s character a secret. You will have to watch the film to understand what I am trying to say. There are two sequences in the film which I wanted to edit. One was the gandi baat wala sequence on the phone and another, where he is sitting
in a particular way. Nawazuddin cuts quite a comic figure. I guess in a way, you could call it twisted entertainment. You’ll laugh and then wonder why you are laughing. He is actually the entertainment package of the film and parallel to Varun’s character. We wanted to keep the audience riveted and hence have not revealed what he does in thefilm.

How was Varun’s look finalised in the film?

DV: I remember being present when Sriram was doing the look trials. Watching them, it suddenly struck me that my father would comb his hair in a certain way, the way you see Raghu combing his hair on one side in the film. I told Varun’s hair dresser, Altaf to try this look. When we saw the final result, Sriram spontaneously said ‘haan, ye hai’.We put a little scar on Varun’s nose to accentuate the fact that he had met with an accident in the film. I must say this about Varun, that though he is only 26 years old, he has given a very mature performance. I saw the hammer scene and I was so shocked as he did it with so much conviction that it left me stunned.