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Roots

Sharmila Taliculam

Shantanu Sheorey. Click for bigger pic!

A few months ago, Shantanu Sheorey stormed out of Chikni Chachi, a movie he was directing for Kamal Hasan. He was followed out by Ashwini Bhave, who also had a role in the film.

After the very public battle, Sheorey turned to the other film projects he has lined up, prominent among them being Jadh, a social drama.

"It's actually an anti-establishment film which by and large people in India might want to be associated with. About how a ordinary person gets caught in a web and what happens to him after that," he explains.

A still from Jadh. Click for bigger pic!

The film is an adaptation of a book, Thank You, Mr Glad, by Marathi author Anil Barve. When a stage adaptation of the book was staged a decade ago, Hrishikesh Mukherjee bought the rights to make a film on the book, with Dilip Kumar and Amitabh Bachchan playing the roles of the older and the younger man.

Today, Sheorey is in charge and the roles are being essayed by Jackie Shroff and Arjun Rampal, the well-known model.

"This would have been the right comeback film for Bachchan," says Sheorey. "I would have loved to make this film with him. I can't see anybody other than Bachchan or Jackie doing this role. They have the personality and the dignity to play the character."

Shantanu Sheorey with Kamal Hasan. Click for bigger pic!

So does Rampal, affirms Sheorey. This is Rampal's second film, his first being an unreleased film opposite Manisha Koirala.

Sheorey wanted a new face to play the young doctor in the film and settled for Rampal.

"I have known Arjun for some time now and I feel that he's just right for the role." Rampal, he says, has the same intensity as Bachchan. "Even the personality matches. He is going to be our next superstar after Bachchan," the director claims. "He is the star of the next decade. He will walk away with the awards this year."

Amitabh Bachchan. Click for bigger pic!

Rampal is good-looking but with features that suit a model better than the chocolate-faced types preferred by current Indian audiences. What are his chances of clicking, against the odds? Sheorey doesn't appear to hear.

"There is no question about his looks or body or his presence on screen. He also has a terrific voice. Performance-wise, he is superb. He can show anger through his eyes without working up a fit. He is also very sincere about his work," Sheorey says. Proof being that Rampal did the daily rounds along with docs at Jaslok hospital to find out how they worked.

Jackie Shroff. Click for bigger pic!

The model was serious enough about his new career to do a one-year course in acting in New York. Sheorey feels this has helped Rampal become very disciplined. "I think," he says, "I have a weapon, a hidden weapon in Arjun."

The film also stars Sonali Bendre and Smriti Mishra with Pooja Batra popping up in a special appearance, about one song long. Odd that, Batra doing a cameo so early in a successful career.

"It's a nice song," Sheorey explains, adding that Batra may have done the role because she has knows him for ages or because it was after all the title song she was figuring in.

Sonali Bendre. Click for bigger pic!

Though it is his first film, Sheorey did not use his reputation to quickly sign up successful stars. Jackie Shroff, for one, has had no hits for quite some time. Ditto Sonali Bendre. And Smriti Mishra is known more for her art film presence than in a commercial humdinger.

"I am not very comfortable with running after stars for dates. This system has to change and someone has got to have the b**** to do it. I may not be successful, but I'm going to try it," says Sheorey. Before again squeezing in praise for his cast: "If you think Jackie was great in Parinda, he'll be better in this film. It's the role of a lifetime. A role considered for Amitabh has to naturally be very powerful..."

Arjun Rampal in Jadh. Click for bigger pic!

Asked whether he wasn't a little worried about his saleability, Sheorey waxes philosophical. "Nobody can guarantee a successful film... I want to make a passionately good film... I am not even thinking of selling my film at this point. I will finish it first, show it to the distributors and then quote a price," he says.

Sheorey has roped in Ashok Mehta, the celebrated cameraman, to do the cinematography and Leslie Lewis of the Colonial Cousins to provide the music.

Leslie Lewis. Click for bigger pic!

"I've not gone for special effects -- my film is made in the classic way and I'm still seeking an editor who understands this." But work on the sound will be done in Australia since he feels Indians lack something in this department.

Sheorey has painstakingly drawn up details of every scene so that things happen on schedule with the minimum of fuss. And he hopes this film will find an international audience. "Despite it sounding cliched, I know my film will do well," he says.