How Ramji Rao became Hera Pheri's Kabira
Gulshan Grover recalls being surprised by a call from director Priyadarshan and producer Firoz Nadiadwala in the late '90s whom he had never worked with before. They wanted to remake a 1989 Malayalam film named after the villain, Ramji Rao Speaking, with him playing the bad man. Gulshan was busy with multiple films at the time but they lured him with the promise that the role of the kidnapper whom they had renamed Kabira was one he had never played before. “His voice exuded menace every time he calls,“ points out the actor.
Gulshan squeezed out some dates but they kept getting bumped off because Priyadarshan was too happy canning sequences with Akshay Kumar, Suniel Shetty and Paresh Rawal in Chennai.After several delays, Gulshan whose interest had diminished considerably, was ready to drop out of the comic caper which had been titled Hera Pheri.
Desperate to hold on to him, the makers promised to wrap up his portions in 10 days. But there was a date clash, with Mahesh Bhatt's Zakhm. Not wanting to lose out on the chance of working with his mentor, Gulshan approached Bhatt with the request that he speak to Firoz and get him out of Hera Pheri.
The film was set in the chawl and Firoz felt he needed a lavishlymounted song to bring people to the theatres. He had some Caucasian women, an Afro body builder and some pythons flown down. He also roped in Namrata Shirodkar for Tun tunak tun. “It must have cost him all our remu neration put together. Some believed that it was Akshay's idea to upstage the others. It was Firoz's brainwave and resulted in a fallout with Priyadarshan, who was not a part of the sequel,“ says Gulshan. He himself engineered a patch-up between Akshay and Subhash Ghai who was peeved after being told by the actor's manager that he was too busy to give him dates for two years. “I set up a lunch meeting between them and Subhashji had signed Akshay for Aitraaz,“ he says.
Fifteen years later, Gulshan will return as Kabira in Hera Pheri 3 being directed by Neeraj Vora.“We're working on the look. Just as there's no rest for the wicked there's no age for the wicked. So I'll only get better looking,“ he chuckles.
Gulshan squeezed out some dates but they kept getting bumped off because Priyadarshan was too happy canning sequences with Akshay Kumar, Suniel Shetty and Paresh Rawal in Chennai.After several delays, Gulshan whose interest had diminished considerably, was ready to drop out of the comic caper which had been titled Hera Pheri.
Desperate to hold on to him, the makers promised to wrap up his portions in 10 days. But there was a date clash, with Mahesh Bhatt's Zakhm. Not wanting to lose out on the chance of working with his mentor, Gulshan approached Bhatt with the request that he speak to Firoz and get him out of Hera Pheri.
“To my surprise, after listening to the role, Bhattsaab advised me to do Firoz's film even though he'd miss not working with me,“ says Gulshan. Zakhm went to Saurabh Shukla and Gulshan went to a mill opposite Film City to shoot the climax with Akshay, Suniel, Paresh, Om Puri and his sexy assistant Kashmira Shah. “Once we started shooting, Priyadarshan was completely focussed on me. He would be waiting for me in my make-up van even before I arrived,“ smiles Gulshan, who in consultation with the director, designed his look.“Priyadarshan didn't want beards and scars. He wanted me to look handsome and dapper. I went to Firoz's office and pulled out an imported camouflage jacket from the wardrobe, the kind I'd seen Sylvester Stallone wear, which I teamed with a tee and jeans.“ Priyadarshan's art director had designed a bungalow in Film City for Kabira and his team to move into to pick up the ransom. Since the owners had gone off on a holiday, all the furniture, the lights and fans were under plastic covers.“Priyadarshan wanted a sunbeam falling on my face when I rang during the day and a flash of neon light when I called at night. He was meticulous about the lights even if it meant delaying the shoot,“ remembers Gulshan.
The film was set in the chawl and Firoz felt he needed a lavishlymounted song to bring people to the theatres. He had some Caucasian women, an Afro body builder and some pythons flown down. He also roped in Namrata Shirodkar for Tun tunak tun. “It must have cost him all our remu neration put together. Some believed that it was Akshay's idea to upstage the others. It was Firoz's brainwave and resulted in a fallout with Priyadarshan, who was not a part of the sequel,“ says Gulshan. He himself engineered a patch-up between Akshay and Subhash Ghai who was peeved after being told by the actor's manager that he was too busy to give him dates for two years. “I set up a lunch meeting between them and Subhashji had signed Akshay for Aitraaz,“ he says.
Fifteen years later, Gulshan will return as Kabira in Hera Pheri 3 being directed by Neeraj Vora.“We're working on the look. Just as there's no rest for the wicked there's no age for the wicked. So I'll only get better looking,“ he chuckles.
