Sajid Khan is one creatively mad man. He will be introducing three sets of Saif Ali Khan, Riteish Deshmukh and Ram Kapoor in his upcoming film Humshakals. Sreya Basu chats up with the filmmaker in Mumbai
What made you make a film on mad men?
I made Humshakals on mad people because at that time I myself went mad.
Was it that maddening an experience?
We have seen one actor’s triple role before in films like John Jani Janardhan (1984) where Rajinikanth saab did a triple role. Amitabh Bachchan saab did a triple role in Mahaan (1983). In Bairaag (1976) Dilip Kumar saab did a triple role. But three actors having triple roles in the same film, sharing the same names, and that too living in the same city before screenplay makes them live in the same house … is something that has never happened before. It took me quite some time to write the screenplay and I even had to visit a psychiatric ward to get my tests done because it was becoming very confusing on how to balance it all, how to open the cards one by one in the second half and take the movie to a climax which even a 5-year-old will be able to understand easily.
Can we call this film as your comeback to comedy?
I don’t know about comeback as I never went anywhere to be back. I was very much in Mumbai. It’s not that I went to live in a desert and I came back. But then, this is what people expect from a Sajid Khan film and I will never ever disappoint them again. They want comedies from me and I will only do comedy films.
We mainly have three male and three female lead actors in the film. Who is paired opposite whom?
We have Tamannaah (Bhatia) and Esha Gupta opposite two Saifs and Bipasha Basu opposite one Riteish. Ram Kapoor is basically a character actor who is the bad guy, mad guy and also the sad guy in the film.
Do you expect the film to cross Rs. 100-crore mark?
Well, like everyone else, we too have worked very hard on this film. This is the first film in my seven-eight years old career as a director that instead of putting on weight, I have lost many kilos. But eventually, the result remains in the hands of God and the people.
But you always talk figures before the release of your films.
This time I will not talk about figures. But I will tell you what the best figure I have got. I was 108 kilos before making the film and I became 73 kilos by the time shooting was over.
Are you nervous this time?
I never get nervous, but I tend to get very anxious for audience reactions. It’s something like an examination. You give the exam and wait for the results. You get nervous about passing only when you have not studied hard. But when you have worked hard, you get anxious about what grades you will pass out with. I know people will enjoy Humshakals as it is at my comedy best. But I am anxious to know how much will they like it.
Do you believe in giving messages through your films?
I only send messages through SMS. There are no messages in my films. But on second thoughts, if you are able to make a person forget his sorrows and make him smile with your film, then it is also a message of sorts. In fact, it will be the best message for a filmmaker to give his audience.
What if there is your humshakal out there? Would you like to meet him?
No, never. Let me tell you an incident here. One of my friends from the media started calling the film Sajid Khan’s Humshakals. I told him please do not write that because I don’t have a very good face. Instead write Humshakals, a film by Sajid Khan. (TWF)
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