Pup Fiction

8220;I am an animation film buff,8221; he dimples, as he tick marks all the books, DVDs, toons he has devoured so far. 8220;Pixar, Disney, you name it and I8217;ve seen it. I8217;ve never missed a single show,8221; he says with pride, placing Ratatouille on the number one favourite slot. This was of course a 8216;passionate8217; secret, one that was known to none other than Aditya Chopra, who called Jugal in to write their first animation film. 8220;We toyed with many ideas, wrote scripts but nothing seemed to fall in place till this one day, I was waiting at the traffic signal and saw these dogs playing in the dirt8230;uncared for, scruffy looking gang, totally mast in a garbage pile, and I instantly knew the characters of my story.8221; So came about Roadside Romeo, and Adi asked Jugal to direct it too! 8220;Two-and-a-half years, 150 people and we are all set to release on October 24.8221;

Roadside Romeo is the story of how Romeo, a pet dog in an affluent household, becomes a stray overnight when the family decides to shift out. Pampered all his life, Romeo feels helpless on the streets till he falls for Laila, a canine beauty, and then fights the local don, Anna Charlie. The voices to the characters have been lent by Saif Ali Khan, Kareena Kapoor and Javed Jaffery respectively.

8220;I just knew Saif would fit best as Romeo is street-smart and has style. Laila is a diva, and who else would8217;ve portrayed her better than Kareena?8221; says the actor, who was last seen as Sanjeev Mehta in Aaja Nachle. Jaffery was a natural choice for 8220;he is a versatile actor, you give him one option and he8217;ll come up with ten variations! He8217;s perfect for animation.8221; An out-and-out commercial flick, full of dance, song Saif and Javed sing a hip hop number for it too! and drama 8211; this is where Jugal8217;s inspiration from Don, Amar Akbar Anthony and the likes comes 8211; he explains how an animation movie differs that from of a regular one. 8220;An animation film is made backwards. The dubbing happens first. Months were spent in getting the expression in each frame right. A retake means seeing the change two days later8230;it8217;s all paper work, imagination and patience.8221;

Roadside Romeo has kept the director busy and his acting plans, for now, are on hold 8220;till something interesting comes up8221;. And does he have any pets? 8220;Well, now I do.8221; Toucheacute;.