Talktime | Umesh Shukla
After making Oh My God, this actor-director is now basking in the glory of his film 102 Not Out. Shukla talks to SANGEETA YADAV about the making of the movie and the experience working with two veterans
Your movie 102 Not Out is getting a lot of good response from the audience.
Yes, on day one, I was just hopping from one theatre to another to see the response of the audience and I felt so satisfied and happy to see them laugh and clap till the climax. They came out and said that they would like to watch this film again with their old parents. Some said that the message has been conveyed very beautifully. Some said that the father-son duo is so cute that they want to take them home.
How did you come up with the idea of adapting the Gujarati play of the same name into a feature filmIJ
In 2013, the writer of the play Saumya Joshi narrated the story to me, wanting to produce a play. The film talks about the universal subject of father and son relationship and how they live their life to the fullest. When I heard that a 102-year-old father puts his son in an old age home, the story clicked and I was sure that this would be a very entertaining film and will also send out a nice message to the audience.
Why did it take five years to make this filmIJ
Amitabhji was busy at that time and I had some other commitments. We took one and a half years to write the script. I also tried to make the script better with each draft. It was a long process and I finalised the 14th draft and shot it.
What difficulty did you face while scripting the film from the playIJ
No difficulty as such as I am quite good at adapting the films from plays. It is very challenging too as plays are always centric to six to seven scenes. In a film adaptation, you have to create 70 to 80 scenes.
Was it a conscious decision to have no woman starcastIJ
If you have good content, it doesn’t matter if you have an all-male or female starcast. In every film, we have seen a strong reference of female starcast. But since it was not required in this film, it was a challenge for me to to direct and all-male film, missing out on the female presence which came as a reference in the film with the character of Chandrika. The way we have mentioned her people expected that they will get to see her but avoided getting into that track because the film is all about the love story between a father and son. Adding more characters to the film would have killed the plot.
Do you think there should have been little more humour than there is in the movieIJ
Since the film is of less than two hours duration, we have tried to keep a balance of comedy, emotions and a message in the end.
What message does this film gives outIJ
It is a very young movie though the characters are old. There is a subtle message that I have tried to send across that if 102 and 75-year-old people continue to make an effort to live their life to the fullest till their last moment, so why don’t we do that. Age is just a number. You have to be young by heart. To be content and curious all the time is the key.
Instead of feeling stressed and commit suicide due to various reasons or feel depressed due to health ailments, we need to keep moving on and make that effort to cherish our life. We can’t live in nostalgia or momentarily feel disheartened. We have only one life and we must live it to the fullest.
Did you meet any old-age peopleIJ
I have met many old-age people while researching and observed their mannerisms and way of living. But the inspiration for the play comes from one of the professors who was 102-year-old but used to live a very young life. He was a Mathematics teacher and when used to be alone at home. He had a statue of Pythagoras with whom he used to talk and dance. He filled up the loneliness by doing something interesting.
If not Amitabh Bachchan and Rishi Kapoor, who you would have been casted for the two rolesIJ
When I narrated the film to Amitabhji, he loved the script. I told him that if he is not going to play Dattatraya Vakharia, I will not make this film. Initially, we wanted Paresh Rawal to play Babulal Vakharia’s role but somehow it didn’t work out. But now when I see Amitabhji and Chintuji together as father-son, they fit perfectly and share a great chemistry.
How was your experience working with two stalwartsIJ
I’m blessed that I got the opportunity to work with these seniors. They never made their superstardom felt. Instead, they put me at ease and made me feel comfortable. They are very disciplined. Amitabhji believes in doing his homework, sticking to his time schedule and working like a method actor but never lets that overpower his performance. Chintuji is a spontaneous actor. When they both come on screen, everything looks so subtle.
Can you share some anecdotes about this filmIJ
There is a scene where Amitabhji is sleeping on the bed and Chintuji comes in the room, looks at him and goes away. The scene cuts there but after the cut, Amitabhji didn’t get up even after calling him again and again. He was not moving at all and we got so tense.
When I moved him a little, he woke up and said I am shooting here for the last 20 days and today I felt like home and fell asleep. That was a great moment for me. He is so committed that he forgets that he should rest sometimes so after every pack up, I used to tell him to take some rest.