By Hindustan Times
At HT Brunch, we love to stick off the beaten track. That’s why our maiden edition of Brunch Dialogues – Conversations with Indian Cinema, turned out to be this type of different event. We adore the films. And what better approach to extend our engagement with entertainment than through an event where conversation – about ideas and trends in cinema – ruled. The subject of the primary Brunch Dialogues, held recently at Trident Bandra Kurla, Mumbai, was Bollywood’s obsession with organised crime, underworld gangs and difficult cops. It was engrossing, absorbing, completely riveting.
Gangsters and their molls have always fascinated filmmakers world wide. Bollywood hasn’t been resistant to the high-octane mixture of guns, goons and ladies either. It first dazzled us within the ’50s with stylised movies corresponding to Baazi. Later, Haji Mastan inspired a couple of blockbusters and within the shootout capers of the 2000s, glamour gave solution to grit. No wonder the maiden edition of Brunch Dialogues – Conversations with Indian Cinema that tackled the dual themes of cinema and crime, turned out to be so smokin’ hot. It needed to be, what with Brunch columnist and advisor, HT Media Limited, Vir Sanghvi quizzing the panellists on urban capers in addition to gritty tales from the hinterland.
In the primary session, filmmaker Sanjay Gupta recalled a newspaper photo that set him fascinated by a film at the shootout that killed don Maya Dolas. “It showed the then Maharashtra DIG AA Khan walking out after the encounter, shirt unbuttoned, sporting flashy sunglasses.” That movie was Shootout At Lokhandwala. Bobbing up next (in December this year) is a prequel, Shootout at Wadala, produced by Ekta Kapoor of Balaji Motion Pictures, about Mumbai’s first shootout in 1982. Ekta, also at the panel, spoke about how Shootout At Wadala was the most efficient script she had read in years.
The third panellist, Tigmanshu Dhulia, fresh from the success of Paan Singh Tomar, said that “in Bihar and UP, they don’t hire an adolescent from Azamgarh to kill. They pull the trigger themselves.”
After the primary session ended, Bartenders – a noirish band – played classic Hindi film numbers with a sensuous, modern twist. They were followed by Brunch columnist Rajiv Makhni’s short, sparkling question-and-answer session with the audience.
All that jazz...
And then the stage was set for the second one session on ‘Glamour in Gangland.’ The panellists included Manoj Bajpayee, whose portrayal of Bhiku Mhatre in Satya is a touchstone for celluloid baddies; Kangana Ranaut, who has perfected the moll act in Gangster, Once Upon a Time in Mumbaai and John Abraham, who plays Manya Surve in Shootout At Wadala. John said he desired to move clear of roles that showed him “emerging from the water in yellow trunks.”
Both the sessions were engaging, edifying. The 200-plus audience, which included Mumbai’s movers and shakers, then repaired to the after-party on the terrace of the Colosseum. And as conversation flowed over Fratelli and Vat 69, Mumbai raised a toast to this new exciting platform for cinema. Catch the Brunch Dialogues on NDTV Good Times, soon. Watch this space.
Gangland tales, all glammed up
Manoj Bajpayee, Actor | Kangana Ranaut, Actress | John Abraham, Actor
The session on ‘Glamour In Gangland: The lads And Their Molls’ turned out to be a heady concoction of sex appeal, style, and plenty of laughter.
Each of the 3 stars who sat right down to talk movies with Vir Sanghvi: John Abraham, Manoj Bajpayee and Kangana Ranaut, have a singular passion driving their lifestyle and acting. Of course, all three are a part of the solid of Shootout At Wadala.
Sanghvi set the ball rolling by revealing that many directors and producers had complained that Abraham’s intensity and keenness have been under-utilised. “Cinema is a visible medium so IT'S NOT THAT I AM apologetic concerning the way I'M portrayed. But eventually, it's about getting your performance right. Many directors bow right down to commercial wisdom, but I thank Sanjay for giving me a challenging role.” Abraham, who's taking Marathi lessons, said he was engaged on getting under the surface of gangster Manya Surve’s character.
“He began as an effortless Maharashtrian middle class boy who desired to be an engineer and studied at Kirti College.”
Bajpayee remembered the time when some financiers desired to add jhatka songs to the unique Satya script and asked him to shake a leg to Sapne mein milti hai. Having internalised the nature of Bhiku Mhatre, the tough, pensive baddie, he did his own spontaneous moves instead.
Ranaut said her histrionic skills were only discovered after people learnt to seem beyond the veneer of her beauty. “Good looks can get uncomfortable at times,” agreed Abraham, saying he gets mobbed at public places by five-year-old girls who call him hot. When he said he found this awkward, Bajpayee interjected and said it was better than “aunties calling you Manojji.”
The conversation turned cosier when Abraham described the way by which young female fans expressed their admiration for him. “Excited young girls put their hands inside my shirt and my bodyguard tells me to not move till they finish doing what they must. It always takes five seconds,” he said as his lady fans within the audience broke into laughter.
Bajpayee also had a comical tackle his unconventional looks: “My father wasn’t excellent trying to. be an actor I needed to chose between Sanjeev Kumar and Jeetendra. I chose Sanjeev Kumar.”
A brave new world of crime capers
Tigmanshu Dhulia, Film director | Sanjay Gupta, Filmmaker, director | Ekta Kapoor, Producer
The trio of panellists within the first session of the Brunch Dialogues had a double-pronged connection: cinema and crime. Soap queen turned film producer Ekta Kapoor has launched a prequel to Shootout At Lokhandwala to be directed by Sanjay Gupta (it’s called Shootout At Wadala). Tigmanshu Dhulia, the brain behind Haasil and Sahib, Biwi Aur Gangster, entered the Chambal heartland to inform the riveting story of Paan Singh Tomar, the rebel with a cause.
With filmmakers like Dhulia, is Bollywood’s obsession with crime in Mumbai changing, asked Brunch columnist and moderator Vir Sanghvi. Dhulia agreed: “Outlaws like Paan Singh are like wild horses. He was a sportsman, he didn’t want money out of crime.”
Kapoor said that movies similar to Paan Singh Tomar and Once Upon A Time in Mumbaai, were telling stories about a wide variety of individuals willing to face up against the system. “Our attention span is diminishing. If it is realistic or escapist cinema, what works is a great story told well,” she said. “This year, for instance, three seemingly disparate movies did well – Paan Singh Tomar, Kahaani and Agneepath,” she added.
In the last underworld movie that she made (Once Upon a Time in Mumbaai) the writers had avoided naming characters that inspired the film. But in Shootout at Wadala, every character may be given real names, said Gupta.
The film is the tale of Manya Surve, the primary Mumbai ganglord killed in a shootout. “The story is ready his conflict with the Ibrahim brothers Shabbir and Dawood,” said Gupta. “Dawood was only a henchman. Shabbir’s death turned everything the wrong way up. There has been bloodbath at the streets and the D Company came into being,” he added.
When Sanghvi asked Gupta and Kapoor in the event that they were fearful of the D gang since they were portraying real characters, Kapoor replied with amusing: “Sanjay has said if a bullet comes our way, he's going to take it!” For her, it’s been quite a journey from bahus to bullets!
Celeb tweets
HT Brunch Dialogues is how an event must b: chilled-out, informative, fun & (most significantly) with tht special vibe! Gala time tonight.
- Actor Meiyang Chang
GREAT STUFF @HTBrunch #Dialogues really enjoyed it! xoxo
- Malini Agarwal
AT THE @htBRUNCH
dialogues evening. Waiting for explosive, entertaining and insightful exchange!
- Clothier Nachiket Barve
The @HTBrunch dinner
was fun it was nice meeting the team that I'VE spoken to for thus a few years at the phone but never met
- Composer Ehsaan Noorani
At the @htbrunch
dialogue convo with @PrAtEiK1986@nachiketbarve and the pretty @i'm amyjackson.
- Rohan Shrestha
Done with first part
@HTBrunch #Dialogues. Was great fun. Victims Archana Puran Singh, Kabir Bedi, Pooja Bedi, Pooja Mishra
- Rajiv Makhni
