Shashant Shah, director of forthcoming film Bajatey Raho, talks to Divya Kaushik about his connect with comedy and working with old friends, Vinay Pathak and Ranvir Shorey
After his first two films, Dasvidaniya and Chalo Dilli, director Shashant Shah has teamed up again with his old friend — Vinay Pathak — in his forthcoming film Bajatey Raho. It also features other member from Shah’s gang — Ranvir Shorey. The film, being promoted as a ‘revenge comedy’ will present Dolly Ahluwalia in an interesting role. Shah informs that “unlike other Bollywood film a 55-year-old woman is the hero of my film.” The idea of the film was born after reading in the newspapers reports that said how common man often suffers while the big industrialists and those who are in power enjoy the luxuries. “In the film Agneepath, there’s a dialogue. ‘Sawal jis jubaan pe poocha jaye, jawab bhi usi jubaan me dena chahiye’ (One should answer in the same language in which the question is asked). I have religiously followed this line in the film and have presented how common men take their revenge from the big industrialist. Funny situations emerge as the family goes out to take their revenge,” informed the director of the film, who believes that though the film will present some tragic situation it will be loaded with humour. “Even if you see at some real situations, there is comedy in every thing. For example, I went to give an interview for the job and was enthusiastically showing my presentation. While explaining, somehow my hand touched upon the tea cup and it fell down from the table to the CEO’s lap. It was really funny and I thought I would never get the job, but I was selected,” he added,
Before directing films, Shashant was producing and directing shows for television. He was associated with the small screen for a long time and “has worked with almost every channel.” The journey started with Zee TV. “I was a Chemistry student and studied architecture. But while I was studying I was into mimicry and was known as a complete entertainer. Even today my college friends know me as a very different person. My first show was with Zee TV and at that time there were many beautiful women in the TV industry. Zee also had a few. I was fascinated by the idea of working with so many pretty ladies and getting to know the plot of the serials before the audience. later I realised that TV is about loads of hard work, but by that time I was addicted to it,” shared Shah, who directed shows like Kahani Poori Filmi Hai for Set Max and The Great Comedy Circus for Star One andSimply Shekhar. “Most of them were non-fiction shows. I also worked for Channel V and it was here I met Ranvir Shorey and Arshad Sayed. Since then we have been friends,” said Shah, who doesn’t mind doing TV even today, provided he has time. “Recently there was an interesting show offered by Colors but I could not do it. I am more committed to films now,” he added.
Shah looks forward to working with young, new actors in the industry but in Bajatey Raho, he says the script demanded veterans like Vinay Pathak, Ranvir Shorey and Dolly Ahluwalia. The director, who has been a great fan of Satyajit Ray films and enjoys comedies like Andaz Apna Apna, Padosan and Golmaal (featuring Amol Palekar), says he will love to come up with a serious film in future.