QUOTE MARTIAL
MAKING WAVES
SHORT TAKES
SOUTHERN SPICE
ROUGH CUTS
MEMORIES
ARCHIVES
MOVIES CHAT

Smear campaign

V S Srinivasan

A still from Officer. Click for bigger pic!

We stand before Sun Villa, at Goregaon. It's one of the innumerable bungalows that have sprung up en route to Film City.

We are there for the shoot of Farooq Nadiadwala's Officer, starring Sunil Shetty and Raveena Tandon, and which is being directed by Naeem Sha.

The gurkha sizes you up doubtfully as you saunter in, uncertain whether you just another voyeur.

We see Sunil Shetty rush in and dive into the make-up room. His friends get in and begin chatting up with each other when the hero steps out for a moment.

"Anna (Sunil) is going to USA soon. There is this Versace showroom in New York where the clothes are dirt cheap. You get it at one-tenth of the cost price. Why don't you get the guy's address? When Anna goes there, he will buy it from there for you."

But Anna walks in and tells them off.

"What a stupid idea. Do you know they are only rejects there? You want me to wear rejects for my films??" Then more curtly, "You'd better get those clothes Mana ( his wife) ordered from that shop." After his 'friends' hurry off, Sunil turns to us, exchanges pleasantries, and gets to describing the character he plays.

"I have a different role in this film, that of a special protection officer. It's not a role of a police officer nor that of a bodyguard; it is more like a member of a 'Z' category security team," he tells you.

Just then, Raveena steps in, clad ravishingly in a white sari with a red border.

A couple of trays are brought over to her. Raveena grabs two handfuls of the coloured powder thereon. Green in one hand, violet in the other. Another Holi scene, you sigh to yourself.

She steps outside the door through which she's supposed to come in and smear the hero when action is called for. The music begins and Raveena steps in with alacrity. She apparently likes the scene a good deal.

"Yaaa!" Raveena yells, shedding her amour propre, and smacks Sunil full with the powder that hangs in reluctant clouds around the unfortunate man before descending on and around him.

Sunil, clad in a pale kurta pyjama to show the stuff off, is covered. Cut!

Danny Denzongpa. Click for bigger pic!

He tries to brush the stuff off, but the director asks him to keep it all, including maybe even the powder than got into his eye, for the sake of continuity. So, looking rather doleful, Sunil heads for the sanctuary of his dressing room. Raveena looks as if she's rather pleased with herself but is trying to hide it. We zero in on director Naeem Sha and ask him about how he got into the business.

"I used to do a lot of scripting earlier for Rajiv Rai, including that of Mohra. It was during the making of that film that I got close to Sunil. I discussed this project with him and he immediately agreed to it. It took me sometime to find a producer, since this was my debut as a director," says Naeem Sha.

And the film? What is the film about?

"It is a thriller, like most of my scripts. I cannot disclose the story. But it will be different from the kind of films being made today," he says. But everyone says that their film is different, we point out. And Sha bridles, and so falls into the trap.

"See Danny Dengzongpa is a rich man and Sunil Shetty's neighbour. Raveena is Danny's wife...," he suddenly stops and blinks at you in alarm, realising he's told you everything you need to know for the present -- that Raveena and Sunil start batting their eyelashes at each other and that Danny's the nasty guy.

"Excuse me, I have to go to the sets," he says, scuttling away, no doubt berating himself for letting himself be thus provoked.

It's time for another scene. And dance master Chinni Prakash bustles around, getting things set up all around. Sunil and Raveena go to him and he tells them they are supposed to do. Sunil hides behind a door.

"Action," yells Chinni, and Sunil steps out and smears Raveena.

Badla," he yells, once the camera is off and dances off. Raveena begins laughing. Actually, the shot wasn't on. But Sunil wanted to have his revenge anyway.

Chinni looks unmoved.Yeh bhi achha laga tha. You have the shot canned, na?" the last line to the cameraman.

A still from Ek Hindustani. Click for bigger pic!

"How do you like the shot, Naeem," asks Chinni and the former nods acknowledgement. Then Naeem comes back to you and tries to explain why he ran off so hurriedly.

"This is my first film and I'm very tense about it. I hope to complete the shooting soon. With this particular schedule I'll have completed around 80 per cent of the shoot. I want to release this film by January," he says.

Meanwhile, Raveena has washed up and plastered anew with make-up. We ask her about the scene just done.

"It is part of the shoot and he was just having fun, that's all. Anyway, they liked the shot. I just didn't expect him to do it. But then he is known to be a mastikhor. I have heard tales of him playing pranks on so many people. I also heard how he scared Priyadarshan during the making of Raftaar..."

So after she's finished making excuses for Sunil, we ask her about her role.

"It's a different role for me. I signed this film long back. Actually Karisma was slated to do the role but she had some problems. So I came in."

Incidentally, Karisma was Raveena's arch-rival before the latter quit films. Both of them have lashed at each other in print many times. "I do not want to talk about her now. I am past that stage now. I am just interesting in working hard and rebuilding my career," she says.

But the next shot has been readied and Raveena goes back, touching up whatever she lost in the conversation.

We note the contrast between the three main people in the film -- Naeem Sha, a rookie out to make his mark, Sunil Shetty, who was contemplating retirement but didn't quit due to the demand, and Raveena, who was nearly thrust out and is struggling to make her way back in.

All the best, we tell them silently, and walk out of Sun Villa into the sun.