Shabana Ansari (DNA; June 14, 2012)

 

Director Rajesh Mapuskar left advertising to make films because “he was sick of selling soap and oil”.

And when filmmaker Vidhu Vinod Chopra agreed to produce his debut venture Ferrari Ki Sawari, Mapuskar realised this was his big break.

The film takes a lot of risks — it is actor Sharman Joshi’s first film as a solo protagonist, it has no romantic angle but is about a father’s quest to fulfill his young son’s dreams and it has a first-timer like Mapuskar at the helm. And in Chopra’s own words, it was considered by many as “financial suicide’’. The production house, however, went ahead to give a chance to a budding director “who had not filmed anything before” but had worked as an assistant director in the Munnabhai series and 3 Idiots.

During an informal interaction with DNA reporters at the newspaper’s Lower Parel office on Wednesday, Mapuskar in his self-deprecating way recounted how he was helped in his journey by good friends Rajkumar Hirani who egged him on to put his thoughts on paper and actor Boman Irani who agreed to work in his debut film. The film’s lead actor Joshi and Irani, who plays his cranky old father, were present at the interaction.

The team feels that the selling point of the film that releases on Friday will be its “freshness” that has now become a trademark of all Vidhu Vinod Chopra films. “In Ferrari Ki Sawaari, Sharman’s character does all the things a mother does for a child in a traditional Hindi film,” Irani said. Asked if the production house was relying too much on its home-grown formula that combines a humourous look at human failings and the feel-good factor, Irani said they were not “changing anything just for the heck of changing”.

Irani, Joshi and Mapuskar admitted that it was a good time to be making films that break the norm by turning the Bollywood formula on its head.

“The filmmaking process is complex in which an actor is translating the director’s vision on screen,” said Irani, adding that he can get into the skin of the character he is essaying through keen observation and exploring the theme in depth.

Replying to a question on what works for an actor like him who does not come across the quintessential Hindi film hero, Joshi said he had not analysed it and would rather keep it that way.

“But I still have a lot of years ahead of me and I may end up surprising audiences by running around trees and doing all the things that Hindi film heroes do on screen,” he added.