When two becomes a crowd

Those of you who think that acting in films or being related to the film world in an important way is fun, think again. Calling the same ty...

Those of you who think that acting in films or being related to the film world in an important way is fun, think again. Calling the same type of shots, directing the same action, saying the same dialogue, generating the same expressions (well, more or less) is not funny.

Take, for example, the young-celebrated-beautiful-mother-of-the-silver-screen (this isn’t our opinion, we’ve been told all this), Reema. She smiles, cries, broods and rues, all in the same way film after film. And K Ravishanker’s Mere Do Anmol Ratan is no exception. Here glamourous maataji is all dressed up in what looks like a cotton silk olive green salwar-kameez. Her shot is in, where else but, a temple. She’s a Hindi fillum mother, remember? And why is she in the temple? Simple. Because she’s just learnt that she’s pregnant (Could the reason be any thing else?). When the camera rolls, she prays devoutly, turns around to face the lens, smiles and the shot is okayed. She promptly disappears thereafter.

The camera set-up is dismantled for another shot. Work continues mechanically — as mechanically as village belles would fetch water from the well.

This location is a little different though. No one has any qualms about revealing the basic storyline. So, here it goes: Reema has two sons, played by Mukul Dev and Arshad Warsi. The two may well share a house, a mother, an upbringing, everything that is but the father. It wouldn’t be a Hindi film had things been straightforward, would it? Obviously we have two fathers in the film — Sadashiv Amrapurkar and Kader Khan — whose life, at least Amrapurkar’s, revolves around finding out who their real son is. Mission impossible? Not exactly. What is a Hindi film heroine for? Enter Namrata Shirodkar. A family friend from far off phoren lands. She finds the whole thing rather intriguing and ends up staying at Amrapurkar-Reema’s residence. How can she not fall in love? So, she does. With which of the two, is not a secret either. The Dastak guy is to be her amour in the film.

The dashing cop from Dastak comes across as a slightly nervous person. He waxes eloquent on Qilla though. He says the predictable about the film and about Dilip Kumar — that he learnt a lot from him, that he is a father figure for him, that Qilla was an institution and that he does not care for its box-office collections. Going by Bollywood standards, he has struck gold not once (Qilla) but twice (Wajood). He bagged the role that Anil Kapoor was to play in Wajood. Mukul’s acting kundali also destines that he work with some of the biggest names in the industry — if it’s not the tragedy king in Qilla, it’s the angry middle-aged Nana in Wajood.

And while pancake is still being applied on to Mukul’s face, Arshad Tere Mere Sapne Warsi is all ready to face the camera. But he has the time to look after his dogs till the others get ready. "There’s nobody at home to look after them, so…," he unnecessarily explains. What is his character in the film? "There’s no difference in Mukul’s character and mine, it’s not a defined character, but the story is good therefore I did the film," he rattles. So much for variety. Namrata is chirpy alright, but she doesn’t have anything exciting to say either. And so is the case with K Ravishanker, the director. "Namrata is the most sensitive actress among models," he says. Optimism or wishful thinking, one can’t tell, but an interesting thing to say, nevertheless, on a dull set.

In the meantime Sadashiv Amrapurkar is still entangled in the maze of Reema’s making. What does Do Anmol Ratan mean to Reema afterall? The two sons or their two fathers, one is left wondering.