It has been three weeks, and the odd romance between a plump girl and a petulant boy continues to find favour at the box office and praise from critics. Sharat Katariya’s “Dum Laga Ke Haisha” redefines the map of Bollywood romance as it is realistic without being boring. It is a given that the two have to come together but the surprise lies in the way Sharat brings them together.
Sandhya is well rounded in more ways than one. Well educated, she is not concerned that she is plus size and newcomer Bhumi Pednekar polishes her with poise. Prem has yet to come out of his father’s shadow; he doesn’t have a way with academics but has a strong sense for music and like most boys has fixed notions about how a bride has to look like. Sandhya doesn’t follow the Bollywood template. She doesn’t work towards realising the transformation of ugly duckling into a swan theory all over again. Prem doesn’t suddenly discover his interest in academics. There is no ‘pehle padhai phir pyaar hoga’ angle in the film. In fact he fails in his 10 standard examination all over again even after realising his follies. “The whole idea was not follow any filmy formulae. People don’t really change. They have to accept the other as they are with their weaknesses. We love and respect the women in our lives for what they mean to us and not how they look like. All these notions are fed by our films and audience want a change,” says Sharat. No wonder, for a film made on a tight budget, ‘DLKH’ has raked in Rs.23.5 crores in the first three weeks of its release.
But it is Yash Raj banner with its chiffon deep romances which has often fed this image. Here the banner has taken a fresh step, which is reminiscent of what Rajshri used to do with films like “Chitchor” and “Nadiya Ke Paar”. “It is a misconception that Yash Raj doesn’t back realistic cinema. In the last few years the banner has made an honest attempt to back all kinds of subjects. My producer Maneesh Sharma is their find and he got an opportunity to make ‘Band Baaja Baraat’ with them. And ‘DLKH’ is cut from a similar cloth.” “Band Baaja…” still had some trappings of mainstream cinema. Sharat agrees. “It is a process. When Maneesh got a chance to produce a film he was obviously going to push the envelope.” The marketing of the film has been low key. “The idea was to quietly introduce the film to the audience and then wait for the reaction. The marketing should suit the mood of the film. There is no point in bombarding the audience with messages before the release.”
Set in the ’90s, Sharat has generated nostalgia by using songs of Kumar Sanu, who ruled the decade but is often mocked at now in popular culture as a symbol of kitschy ’90s. “It is not a celebration of nostalgia. It is celebration of life. I grew up in the period and at that time people took him and his music very seriously. So there is no point in caricaturing it when you are setting the film in that period.” Prem runs a recording shop in the film but Sharat found it hard to get together a collection of audio cassettes which were in vogue those days. “Finally, we chanced upon a closed music shop in Haridwar and we used it almost as it is,” recalls Sharat.
The Delhi boy has been an assistant of Rajat Kapoor for a long time and perhaps that is the reason that one can see some similarity between the way he has picturised the middle-class atmosphere in “DLKH” and Kapoor’s “Aankhon Dekhi”. Sharat doesn’t see the link. “Perhaps people are finding the similarity because of the presence of Sanjay Mishra and Seema Pahwa.” One of the best ensemble casts that we have seen in recent years, Ayushmann Khurrana says it was the presence of theatre actors like Pahwa and Alka Amin that spurred them to work on their body language and diction. Khurrana spent a lot of time with Mahesh Sharma who plays his friend in the film to get a hang of the character and the body language. Sharat says Bhumi was adopted by Seema Pahwa to make her understand the nuances of the region. Khurrana says like “Vicky Donor”, “DLKH” is also a concept based film and works because every member of the cast gets to contribute. “After watching the film my father said you character comes out nicely because Bhumi plays her part well. Something similar happened in ‘Vicky Donor’ where Yami Gautam had got a meaty role.”
Khurrana says the film has been set in Haridwar and Rishikesh but he has felt this vibe in Chandigarh as well. “You could sense it in very city beyond metros. The vibe that you can also make it big but the opportunities are not coming your way. Like Prem’s friend says in the film these days there are so many oddballs in Bollywood but he could not try his luck because he had to sit on his father’s lingerie shop.”
Sanu shines
Kumar Sanu on his return to music charts with “Dard Karara”
The film’s song “Dard Karara” continues to rise on the charts and Kumar Sanu is back in the hit list. The playback singer’s songs continue to play on FM channels but somehow the younger composers are not showing faith in him. “It is a matter of confidence. Earlier composers like Nadeem Shravan, Jatin Lalit, Anu Malik used to call me to sing all the songs of their films because they felt that I could justify the content of the song and mould my voice to suit the actor. Today content has become secondary and there is no need to match your voice with the actor. They say teenagers want fresh voices but then how is “Dard Karara” being lapped up where I have given voice to Ayushmann?”
But many believe that he has been called because the film is set in 90s and singers of that era have refused to mould themselves to the current demand. “If the current demand means singing filthy lyrics, I don’t want to change. If the current demand means that a song is given to 25 singers and then even the composer doesn’t know whose song will be selected then I don’t want to get into this humiliating race all over again,” says the singer who became a rage after “Aashiqui”.
Sanu holds that the media is not showing enough respect for the music of the 90s. “When we emerged on the scene we never bad-mouthed our seniors. I still hold that I am what I am because of Kishore Kumar but this generation doesn’t show enough respect to its past.” Earlier stars used to work with playback singers for decades but it is no longer the case. “I sang for Shah Rukh Khan right from ‘Raju Ban Gaya Gentleman’ and my voice had a role in his rise. However, as the stars age they look for younger voices in the hope that they will appear younger.”
Sanu, who is busy with stage shows and private albums, says now he has much more on his plate. Recently, he joined Bhartiya Janta Party. “I am not an active member but like some of the things that Prime Minister Narendra Modi stands for. Soon I am going to make a presentation before the I & B minister on keeping a check on abusive language in songs. It is affecting young children.”
