When poverty gets a comic touch

The decrepit house hugging the Versova beach, on which slums are growing like mould, is just right for a lower middle-class shack that it is...

The decrepit house hugging the Versova beach, on which slums are growing like mould, is just right for a lower middle-class shack that it is supposed to portray in Priyadarshan8217;s new film Hera Pheri. And though the director burnt his fingers badly in his last two Bollywood ventures, Saat Rang Ke Sapne and Kabhi Na Kabhi 8212; quot;it was a mistakequot;, he says ruefully 8212; he hasn8217;t lost his eagle eye for detail. And may be, he can recreate the Virasat magic yet again.

Not a thing is out of context on the sets of the film 8212; even the heroine, who as a rule is plumed in the brightest colours. Tabu8217;s face is shorn of make-up and in an ordinary nightie of some nondescript colour, with the frill of a cheap cotton petticoat peeking out, she fits the settings like a glove. The film though is no sob story but, quot;a comedy of poverty. I have taken the Chaplin angle. He always laughed at his poverty. I want to make something people can relate to easily,quot; says Priyadarshan. Well, he choose the right subject 8212; poverty is something most people can relate to in this country.

The story is of two boys, Sunil Shetty and Akshay Kumar who come to Mumbai to better their fortunes, quot;We are two losers who are living with another loser, Paresh Rawal,quot; laughs Sunil.

Priyadarshan promises that there are huge doses of humour but no slapstick in his film. quot;But of course there are slight exaggerations. You can8217;t have fiction without lies. There is the villain, the police and the kidnapping but there are no machine guns and bombs,quot; he says.

The shot being canned is where Sunil comes to Tabu8217;s house for the first time. He is eligible for a job in the bank where his father worked till he died. But Tabu, who too is poor, is also vying for the same post. So the poor little resourceful girl calls the hero to her house telling him that she will pay him off to withdraw his application. Sunil walks into the vertical corridor of her chawl and is promptly abused by her mentally disturbed mother. From the other end Tabu comes to his rescue. The shot is canned without much fuss in three takes. Eventually, seeing that Tabu is worse off than him, Sunil will let her take job without any payment.

The scene seems simply constructed except that you can8217;t see the camera anywhere. Finally Priyadarshan points it out 8212; it is peeping out of a room facing the corridor. quot;I wanted the onlooker quality to the film. If someone was watching this happening in real life, he might be standing further down the corridor, most probably leaning against the wall,quot; he says. And the angled camera would catch that feel perfectly. Priyadarshan says that he picks up the angles from newspaper photographs 8212; specially the war ones.

quot;The photographer will always stand where the bullet won8217;t get him. So he is the ideal onlooker.quot; Sounds very impressive and Sunil agrees completely, quot;It was my dream to work with Priyanji. He is a school in himself.quot; Both Priyadarshan and he note that there is a definite turn towards more real cinema now. quot;You cannot fool people anymore. Though you have to lie, you must lie convincingly to your audiences,quot; says the director. His trademark prism of colours is also missing from the picture. quot;I wanted to keep it as real as possible. But I have done a little stylisation, of course.quot;

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quot;For instance, I made the bus-stop where they stand and talk more attractive than it usually is in Mumbai. But it8217;s not unreal. The bus-stop is something which the BMC can see and copy easily,quot; he says. A student of life himself, it seems Priyadarshan8217;s film will contain practical lessons too, besides the emotional insights.