The Sippy scion has returned to his bastion of a director six years after Bluffmaster . As with his previous directorial ventures, his childhood friend Abhishek Bachchan features in Dum Maaro Dum , which Rohan Sippy pitches as a dramatic suspense thriller. “Laziness kept me away from direction,” guffaws Rohan and adds, “After producing Taxi no. 9211, Chandni Chowk to China and President is Coming, I had planned to direct a nother film. But it required an ambitious budget and we had to put it on hold. Meanwhile, Sridhar Raghavan finished writing DMD two years ago and we started work.”
In a nutshell, DMD has the cop, Abhishek Bachchan, unravelling the drug-mafia nexus in Goa. “We've seen a cop take on the bad guys million times. The multiple narrative structure will make it different. Three stories will meet at one point and take the story forward,” offers Rohan, agreeing to inevitable comparisons of this narrative style to Mani Ratnam's Yuva . “The big challenge is to hold people's interest. We've had many Indian films follow complex narrative styles, for example, Kamal Hassan's Virumaandi .”
An ensemble cast, he feels, is the film's USP. “I was lucky that all the actors agreed to be part of a script where no actor will outshine one another. Abhishek came on board first. I roped in Prateik after seeing his wonderful screen presence in Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na . After Dhobhi Ghat , he is in the reckoning. And the credit for casting Rana goes to my wife. She showed me his pictures. He is new to Hindi and brings in an element of freshness.”
Beyond all this, the movie is being talked about for the new version of the cult hit, Dum Maaro Dum , albeit, peppered with new lines that have drawn flak. Rohan is amused: “The original song was also about getting high. It wasn't a bhajan. Four decades have passed hence. In these years, we know that the real nature of the drug business is an organised criminal network. We didn't mind Munni badnaam and Sheela ki jawani . This song shows a woman who is aggressive and rebellious and I guess that's what has irked people.”
Rohan, who studied philosophy in Stanford University, is clearly in sync with market demands when he defends the lyrics and adds, “The lines were meant to be in your face. We live in times when Cee Lo Green's song with a controversial title is a massive hit.”
Finally, has he made peace with Dev Anand? “I haven't met Dev saab recently. We procured the rights for the song from Sa Re Ga Ma , who said they represented Dev Anand. We assumed they had his consent,” states Rohan.
