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Retake!

Lata Khubchandani

The venue is Mehboob Studios in Bandra, a sylvan Bombay suburb. Director Shashilal Nair is shooting a 'difficult' scene with his stars, Juhi Chawla and Shah Rukh Khan.

Juhi is on tenterhooks because "My dialogues are too long. I can't seem to memorise them." Shah Rukh, on the other hand, is ease personified, offering to help Juhi by rehearsing with her. She hesitates, looks around, checks the dialogues again and gets up.

There is a sudden interruption as producer Yash Johar drops in to see them. After greeting, hugging and kissing Tom Uncle, as they call him, they get back to the scene at hand. The lightmen watch, grinning, wondering what will come next.

Juhi is dressed in black trousers, white shirt and a black tie. She is playing an air hostess. Shah Rukh, in his business-like shirt and trousers, looks more dignified than is normal for him. Writer Sanjay Chhel goes up to Juhi in an attempt to help her memorise the long dialogue. Soon, though, he too gives up.

Shashilal Nair refuses to break Juhi's hesitant mood. Instead, he allows her her space, merely saying, "Don’t get fooled by this nervousness. She's very good, all she needs to do is get into the right mood."

The set is huge, encompassing the whole of studio one in Mehboob. Designed by Nitin Desai, it shows a wooden house that, for some inexplicable reason, is built like a Chinese residence. Inside, the scene is to be shot in what seems to be the kitchen-cum-dining room-cum-living room. The bedroom is curtained off with wooden dividers that look representative of the Mughal era. Wonder which decade they're trying to portray?

While the heroine is still dillydallying, in walk Umesh Mehra and Abbas-Mustan. They're there to see the shoot. Pros that they are, they are quite inured to the interminable wait as they sit back and sip tea.

A young girl walks up to talk to Shah Rukh. She's setting up a website for the star and she regales us with stories of how a squatter had already registered a site in Shah Rukh's name and was attempting to sell it to him for a huge price. So she cleverly gave Shah Rukh the idea of making a minor change in the name and registering it anew.

Juhi, meanwhile, is finally ready to shoot. Shah Rukh insists on a rehearsal. The scene shows Juhi and Shah Rukh, who are playing husband and wife, in the throes of a domestic quarrel.

Shah Rukh, when restrained, can be quite an actor. He sails through the scene easily, but Juhi's responses are a little diffident. She even forgets her dialogue. Shah Rukh, who has to handle her with some harshness, apologises profusely for hurting her. She says with that little girl voice, "I'm alright."

Shah Rukh goes back to sitting on a window ledge, while Juhi picks up her dialogue sheet. In walks Meghna Gulzar of The Amul India Show, cameras and all in tow. She seats herself in one corner, with the obvious intention of waiting till Shah Rukh is able to spare some time for her.

Shah Rukh, a master at ignoring all interruptions, ignores her and rehearses once more. Again, Juhi gets it all wrong. This goes on for some time till they finally get it right. Everyone heaves a sigh of relief!

But Shah Rukh puts his foot down, "No, it wasn't right, we must shoot it again." Juhi exclaims, "I’m tired, you know!" But Shah Rukh patiently explains why they should do it till it's perfect. By this time, though, we lose our patience and walk out.

At the same time, a couple of kids walk into the set. Sanaa Shaikh and Gazala are both part of the cast, they probably play Jackie Shroff's kids. His photo adorns the bedroom with the wooden dividers. One wonders if he's been killed off in the film.

Choreographer Saroj Khan walks in to say hello. Shashilal explains her presence by telling us the film is complete except for the songs. We, in our turn, bid him goodbye.