Writer-turned-director Raaj Shaandilyaa believes stars like Rajesh Khanna, Amitabh Bachchan and Dharmendra have been so successful because people loved the characters they played. “Not because they got attention thanks to publicity stunts,” says the filmmaker adding that a script and its characters needed to be the stars of the film. “People loved Sholay for Jai, Veeru, Gabbar and Thakur, not for Amitabh Bachchan or Dharmendra. Characters have to be more important than the hero.”
Lessons learned
It’s no wonder then that Shaandilyaa’s first directorial venture is Dream Girl , inspired by hilarious and often bizarre incidents of ‘catfishing’ on online platforms like Facebook. “[Nirmaan Singh and I] came up with the story of a guy talking to people on the phone as a girl [Pooja], how he gets entangled in the web of lies he spins and how he ultimately gets himself out of it. The many different characters in the story are all Pooja’s ‘lovers’ and that you’ll get to see in the film as the plot unfolds,” said the director during a chat with The Hindu . In an industry where one’s image can make or break an actor, Ayushmann Khurrana was the only choice for this role. Luckily, the poster boy of unconventional films was enamoured by Dream Girl ’s concept and was eager to sign on to play ‘Pooja.’
Shaandilyaa, who has previously worked on comedy reality shows like Comedy Circus and The Kapil Sharma Show , was conscientious about not making the film an adult comedy. Aiming for a wholesome family entertainer, the writers have stayed away from anything that would make parents uncomfortable while watching the film with their children or vice versa. A dialogue in the film also refers to the #MeToo movement and subtly talks about consent. “Our objective was to put serious things in front of the audience in a humorous way. All of the dialogues in my films have always relied heavily on satire where people understand serious matters through humour. Gyaan baantne chale toh koi sunna nahi chahta. [If we went to impart lessons no one would listen] ”
Deep connect
In the last year or so, event films like Kalank (2019) and Bharat (2019) have underperformed while Badhaai Ho (2018), Uri: The Surgical Strikes (2019) , Gully Boy (2019) , and Article 15 (2019) have done well. Audiences have especially connected with real stories from the heart of India. “The connect that people feel with actors like Ayushmann, Vicky Kaushal and Kartik Aryan is because they’ve got the pulse of small town India and that is the audience. People can see Switzerland, London and Dubai on social media anyway, they don’t need to go to movie theatres for that,” the director concludes.
