Katha remake to take off on January 2

Zeeshan Ayyub

It was the role of the sensitive and understanding older brother in Hansal Mehta’s Shahid that impressed director Khalid Mohamed and he cast Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub to play the role of the innocent clerk in his next venture — the remake of Sai Paranjpye’s classic Katha.
Zeeshan, who also played Dhanush’s best friend in Raanjhanaa, is excited about playing the part enacted by Naseeruddin Shah in the original. “I cannot fulfil what Nasser saab did in the film. I have grown up watching Katha. It is like a granth, a Bible for me. I even know the dialogues very well. Little did I know that one day I would be a part of its remake. So the impact is really huge and the challenge very high. I am trying to give it a different spin, with my look and mannerisms and I’m in talks with the director for the same,” says the actor, adding that even Khalid Mohamed has told him ‘to not go the Naseer saab way and treat this film like a new and fresh script’. “‘The energy should not change. It should be the same cute film and your performance should be at par with what you did in Shahid. It has to look real’, is what he has told me,” says Zeeshan.
However, the actor states that the film is almost the same as the original, but only the time frame and the language has changed to the present time. “The sensibilities of the ‘80s has to be changed and adapted to this day,” he says.
The 35-40 day start-to-finish shooting schedule for the film will start from January 2 in Mumbai. “I am not yet aware of the place but it is set in a chawl,” says Zeeshan, who will also be seen in the sequel to Tanu Weds Manu. “I play Chintu — a new character in the film — that is all I can say now. The same about Dolly Ki Doli,” he says as he also informs about director Kabir Khan’s Phantom releasing on April 3, a counter-terrorism drama in which he plays a RAW agent.