Getting rustic

Gangs of Wasseypur is Anurag Kashyaps most ambitious venture. Shot in Benares,the film is a politico-revenge thriller on the coal mafia. Essaying a role which is a complete antithesis of the actor,Manoj Bajpayee plays the role of a mafia don called Sardar Khan. He reveals,Sardar is one of the most challenging roles I have played. To imbibe his characteristics,I had to unlearn a lot of my craft before I could convincingly play him. Because he is everything that I am not a womaniser,a murderer who can kill at the drop of a hat,his lifestyle,eating and drinking habits. In fact,for the first 20 days of the shoot,I was so engrossed in trying to comprehend my character that I did not step out of my room .

In fact,for the actors of the film,it has been an experience in unlearning their craft. Shooting in the sweltering heat,actor Richa Chadha,who plays Bajpayes wife,feels it had been an unforgettable experience,especially the two-week workshop that the director conducted in order to get the actors to interact with each other and narrate their personal experiences. In fact,we were surprised when Kashyap incorporated real-life experiences of two actors in the film, says the actress,who essays the role of a village girl.

Nawazuddin Siddiqui, who appears in the last 20 minutes of Part 1 of the film,cannot forget the memories of shooting for an action sequence in Benares.

In these 20 minutes,you will see me doing romance and action. There was a fight sequence which was being shot inside a house and I was supposed to run from one room to other. While I was running a bomb was to blow up simultaneously. But something went horribly wrong and the fire blew over a large section of the house and I was trapped with flames all around me. Had I been a fraction of a second late I would have been roasted alive, said the actor, who is a lso part of six of the 25 songs in the film.

One song which Anurag had conceptualised,he says,is unique in the sense it8217;s an action item number which goes like,I am a hunter,you want to see my gun.

The song is in English and is a mix of African and Indian beats like a dhol,tabla,guitar and some African instruments. It was a complete riot on the sets that day, he said.