‘SRK will be greeted with whistles’
Dialogue writer duo Sajid-Farhad talk about their upcoming projects with Shah Rukh, Akshay, Ajay and Abhishek.
You’ve worked with Ajay Devgn in nine films, but it was Akshay Kumar who after two films with you, came on board your directorial debut, Entertainment.
Sajid: After working with us in just two films Akshay suggested that we should direct a film now. With Ajay it’s been a long, steady relationship. With Akshay it was love-at-first-sight. Ditto with Junior, the dog who is the star of the film.
Farhad: Years ago, Ram Gopal Varma told us that the song we wrote for Munnabhai MBBS told a story in it's first four lines itself and we should be writing dialogues.
Sajid: Aur ghanti baji, ting! Later, he turned up on the sets of Golmaal 3 and after listening to the deaf-mute Tusshar Kapor talking gibberish, told us poker-faced, “I don’t understand a word he’s saying but the film is a superhit."
Well, it was, but did you expect Singham to be a superhit too?
Sajid: I don’t think even Rohit Shetty expected the film to be such a huge hit. Whenever we wrote for him, he’d say, “Achcha hai, dekhte hain, but apna Bol Bachchan toh hai na.” After comedies like Golmaal and All The Best, the action thriller was a gamble.
Farhad: The name Singham came from the Tamil original, for the hero's Lion-like bravery but since his lover couldn’t call him by his surname, we christened him Bajirao since he was a Maharashtrian. The sequel could easily have been titled Bajirao Singham.
How different is Singham Returns from Surya’s Singham 2?
Farhad: Rohit was very sure he didn’t want to remake the Tamil film so he wrote his own story and we gave Singham new punchlines like,”Sher aatank phelata hai lekin zakhmi sher tabahi.”
Sajid: And you’ll still hear him say, “Aata maajhi satak li”. In fact, with the film set in Mumbai, both Kareena and he speak a lot of Marathi in this film. After living with Kajol all these years, kuch toh Marathi sikhi hogi. It wasn’t difficult for him to mouth the lines.
Rohit’s next after Singham Returns will star Shah Rukh Khan. Tell us about this film.
Sajid: It’ll be another blockbuster. It’s a commercial film with two younger heroes. Once they are cast, we will tweak the lines to suit their personalities. We wrote it three years ago and Shah Rukh’s character will remind you of Mr Amitabh Bachchan’s angry young man roles. People greeted his arrival with whistles, that’s how they will respond to SRK too.
So it’s not a sequel of Chennai Express?
Sajid: No, Shah Rukh wanted to take Chennai Express to Africa and dance with the Masai tribals. But there’s time for that yet.
Farhad: We had written Chennai Express five years before we took it to SRK. The narration took three hours, after that, for nine hours, Shah Rukh took us on a trip down memory lane while we wondered if he was on board till he said, “I’ve been pakaoing you for so long because we’ll be working together.” And we all heaved a sigh of relief.
You’re known to approach stars with a bound script...
Sajid: That’s right. But we made an exception last week when we took a first draft of Housefull 2 to Abhishek Bachchan two days before he left for Brazil to watch the World Cup final.
Farhad: We weren’t too happy about it, but he loved the story idea and gave us the thumbs up. So, after John Abraham and Arjun Rampal, Abhishek Bachchan will be the new entrant to the House, keeping Akshay and Riteish (Deshmukh) company. There will also be three girls and three bad men under the same roof. We are waiting for Kick to release before finalising the rest of the cast with Sajid Nadiadwala.
And what’s happening to Bol Bachchan 2 and Golmaal 4?
Farhad: Golmaal 4 may happen next year but Bol Bachchan will not take off before two years, since we have already bagged Abhishek for our film. But we have lots of funny lines in stock which we wrote for the film’s promotion that can come in handy whenever we make the film.
Sajid: But don’t tell Rohit Shetty that or he’ll cut our price.
You’ve worked with Ajay Devgn in nine films, but it was Akshay Kumar who after two films with you, came on board your directorial debut, Entertainment.
Sajid: After working with us in just two films Akshay suggested that we should direct a film now. With Ajay it’s been a long, steady relationship. With Akshay it was love-at-first-sight. Ditto with Junior, the dog who is the star of the film.
Farhad: Years ago, Ram Gopal Varma told us that the song we wrote for Munnabhai MBBS told a story in it's first four lines itself and we should be writing dialogues.
Sajid: Aur ghanti baji, ting! Later, he turned up on the sets of Golmaal 3 and after listening to the deaf-mute Tusshar Kapor talking gibberish, told us poker-faced, “I don’t understand a word he’s saying but the film is a superhit."
Well, it was, but did you expect Singham to be a superhit too?
Sajid: I don’t think even Rohit Shetty expected the film to be such a huge hit. Whenever we wrote for him, he’d say, “Achcha hai, dekhte hain, but apna Bol Bachchan toh hai na.” After comedies like Golmaal and All The Best, the action thriller was a gamble.
Farhad: The name Singham came from the Tamil original, for the hero's Lion-like bravery but since his lover couldn’t call him by his surname, we christened him Bajirao since he was a Maharashtrian. The sequel could easily have been titled Bajirao Singham.
How different is Singham Returns from Surya’s Singham 2?
Farhad: Rohit was very sure he didn’t want to remake the Tamil film so he wrote his own story and we gave Singham new punchlines like,”Sher aatank phelata hai lekin zakhmi sher tabahi.”
Sajid: And you’ll still hear him say, “Aata maajhi satak li”. In fact, with the film set in Mumbai, both Kareena and he speak a lot of Marathi in this film. After living with Kajol all these years, kuch toh Marathi sikhi hogi. It wasn’t difficult for him to mouth the lines.
Rohit’s next after Singham Returns will star Shah Rukh Khan. Tell us about this film.
Sajid: It’ll be another blockbuster. It’s a commercial film with two younger heroes. Once they are cast, we will tweak the lines to suit their personalities. We wrote it three years ago and Shah Rukh’s character will remind you of Mr Amitabh Bachchan’s angry young man roles. People greeted his arrival with whistles, that’s how they will respond to SRK too.
So it’s not a sequel of Chennai Express?
Sajid: No, Shah Rukh wanted to take Chennai Express to Africa and dance with the Masai tribals. But there’s time for that yet.
Farhad: We had written Chennai Express five years before we took it to SRK. The narration took three hours, after that, for nine hours, Shah Rukh took us on a trip down memory lane while we wondered if he was on board till he said, “I’ve been pakaoing you for so long because we’ll be working together.” And we all heaved a sigh of relief.
You’re known to approach stars with a bound script...
Sajid: That’s right. But we made an exception last week when we took a first draft of Housefull 2 to Abhishek Bachchan two days before he left for Brazil to watch the World Cup final.
Farhad: We weren’t too happy about it, but he loved the story idea and gave us the thumbs up. So, after John Abraham and Arjun Rampal, Abhishek Bachchan will be the new entrant to the House, keeping Akshay and Riteish (Deshmukh) company. There will also be three girls and three bad men under the same roof. We are waiting for Kick to release before finalising the rest of the cast with Sajid Nadiadwala.
And what’s happening to Bol Bachchan 2 and Golmaal 4?
Farhad: Golmaal 4 may happen next year but Bol Bachchan will not take off before two years, since we have already bagged Abhishek for our film. But we have lots of funny lines in stock which we wrote for the film’s promotion that can come in handy whenever we make the film.
Sajid: But don’t tell Rohit Shetty that or he’ll cut our price.
