Kartam Bhugatam," starring Shreyas Talpade and Vijay Raaz, has been released. In a Lehren Retro interview, Shreyas discussed his films "Iqbal," "Dor," "Golmaal Returns," and "Om Shanti Om." Watch this fascinating conversation with Shreyas Talpade.
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00:00 You know, I give all the credit to Nagesh for whatever I did in Iqbal.
00:03 He kept telling me, "I want this, I don't want this."
00:06 He would actually yell at me, "Why did you take the third step? I told you only two steps, right?"
00:10 "Kiska husband play karega? Gulpanak ka ke Ayesha Takia ka?"
00:14 So I said, "Dono khubsudat hai."
00:16 "Kiska husband play karega?"
00:19 So through the day, we kept improvising and playing around.
00:24 And that chemistry started building to the point where I remember in the evening,
00:27 there was one scene that we were shooting and Farrah finally came and said, "Enough."
00:32 Enough of improvisations. Just say whatever is written in the damn script.
00:36 You know, Shreyas is somebody who...
00:40 First we saw him in Iqbal.
00:42 I'm sorry but Iqbal, when I saw it, I thought you couldn't talk.
00:45 [laughter]
00:47 A lot of people actually felt...
00:49 So we saw you at Dimple Theatre,
00:52 and I saw this new boy standing there and I said,
00:55 "I don't know whether I can go talk to him or anything."
00:58 But I did go up and say, "That was very nice and lovely watching you."
01:02 There's a very interesting incident that happened on the release of the film.
01:06 So we did these theatre visits, right?
01:08 So me, Nagesh, Rahul Puri, Elahe, Dipti, all of us would go and check the response.
01:13 And I remember one of the shows, one of the first shows,
01:16 where Nagesh was standing, behind him it was me and then Rahul, Elahe, Dipti.
01:21 So the people started walking out after the show.
01:23 And they saw Nagesh first and they said, "Oh, Mr. Kukulur, what a film, what a lovely film."
01:30 And then they saw me and they said, "Um..."
01:35 [laughter]
01:39 So I said, "Thank you, thank you."
01:41 You can talk?
01:41 You can speak?
01:42 [laughter]
01:43 I said, "I can speak, I can hear everything."
01:45 [laughter]
01:47 So I was not the only one.
01:49 No, no, no, they were pretty shocked.
01:50 So yeah, I mean, you know, for the longest time, people kept feeling this, that,
01:56 "Can he speak? Can he hear?"
01:58 And of course, they also didn't know the fact that,
02:00 even Subhash didn't know the fact that I was married just before Iqbal.
02:04 So it was quite funny, you know, the kind of reactions that we would get.
02:09 And we would wait for that.
02:10 [laughter]
02:11 Which actually means you were such a good performer that you convinced people.
02:15 But I think it was all Nagesh, you know.
02:17 I give all the credit to Nagesh for whatever I did in Iqbal.
02:21 If people have liked it, it is only thanks to Nagesh.
02:24 Because I think he's really hand-holding me throughout the film.
02:27 Every little thing, he kept telling me, "I want this, I don't want this."
02:32 "Okay, two steps means only two steps."
02:34 He would actually yell at me, "Why did you take the third step?"
02:36 "I told you only two steps, right?"
02:38 "Sorry, sorry."
02:39 [laughter]
02:41 So yeah, but I think, because he was very clear about what he wanted.
02:45 And there's a very nice thing that he told me right on day one.
02:49 So there's this shot where my father wakes me up.
02:52 I'm sleeping.
02:53 I think it's the first shot where I'm introduced, you know.
02:56 So he wakes me up.
02:57 And I wake up and he says, "Chalo, chalo, kaam pe chalo."
03:00 "Kuchh karte nahi ho, sota rehta hai."
03:02 "Wagara."
03:02 So I woke up in a certain manner.
03:05 And Nagesh came and Nagesh said, "You know what?
03:07 "Just remember one thing.
03:10 "This is the first shot in the film where you're going to be introduced, okay?"
03:14 "Now you're this 18-year-old guy.
03:16 "In your mind, I want you to think 18.
03:20 "If you convince me in the first five minutes that you're 18,
03:24 "after that, tu daadi bada le, mooch bada le, kuchh bhi kar le,
03:29 "I will look at you only as 18, you know, not beyond that.
03:32 "So now just convince me that you're 18.
03:35 "That's it."
03:36 And I was 29 and going on to 30 at that point.
03:39 So I said, "Okay."
03:41 So I thought about it for five minutes and then I did the shot.
03:44 And after that, he said, "Yes, now I see that you're 18."
03:48 Yeah.
03:49 So I think, you know, a lot of things that I learned,
03:52 I also unlearned a lot of things while shooting for Iqbal.
03:56 And it's all thanks to Nagesh.
03:57 Nagesh.
03:58 Okay.
03:59 But you know, it's surprising that he put you as a guy who couldn't speak in the first film.
04:05 And one year later in Door, you were doing that behroopiya,
04:09 you know, you were anything but dumb.
04:11 Yeah.
04:12 But you know, all that I couldn't do,
04:14 online, rather on film in Iqbal, I used to do it, you know, off the set.
04:23 Off set.
04:24 So all sorts of masti and mimicry and all that nonsense would keep happening,
04:30 you know, off the set.
04:31 In between shots.
04:32 Yeah, yeah, yeah.
04:32 So of course, he knew that part of me.
04:34 And so when he was casting for Door, I still remember he had asked me first,
04:39 "Kiska husband play karega?"
04:42 "Gulpanak ka ke Ayesha Takia ka hoon?"
04:44 So I said, "Dono khubsurat hai.
04:45 Iska husband play karu."
04:48 And then in a week's time, because at that point in time, he was
04:51 looking at some senior actor playing behroopiya.
04:55 But then in a week's time, suddenly he said, "You know what?
04:57 I want you to play behroopiya and let's use the whole mimicry angle and everything over there."
05:04 So that's how the whole transition.
05:05 Because that was completely different, you know.
05:08 Yeah, and he brought out something really fabulous in you in that.
05:11 Yeah, so I mean, I really enjoyed that time with him because...
05:16 And Nagesh is extremely unpredictable, you know.
05:19 So when you feel that you know him, you don't really know him.
05:23 He'll come up with a surprise.
05:24 He'll come up with something else.
05:25 Yeah, that's right.
05:26 But that really set the trend for you to be doing a lot of comedy, isn't it?
05:29 Even till that point in time, people were not too convinced.
05:33 You know, because I remember, I won't name the director, but he had auditioned me for
05:41 a hit comedy franchise at that point, which became a franchise later, obviously.
05:47 But he liked the audition.
05:49 But he said that, "You know what?
05:51 You have a very strong image as Iqbal.
05:53 You're a very serious kind of film and serious guy.
05:56 So I don't know how people will accept you in comedy."
05:58 So I said, "Okay, sir."
06:00 Because I was very new to the whole thing.
06:02 I said, "Okay, sir, whatever you say."
06:04 And then Golmaal happened, you know.
06:06 So Rohit cast me in Golmaal Returns.
06:09 And that changed quite a few things for me.
06:12 So humor and comedy was something that I used to do in stage and in Marathi films and theater
06:18 and television also.
06:20 But no one had known about that aspect in Hindi films.
06:23 That is when Golmaal helped me reach out.
06:28 And I remember the same director at the success party of Golmaal, he came, he hugged me and
06:33 he said, "Galti ho gayi."
06:35 But that's fine.
06:37 "But theek hai.
06:37 Yeah.
06:38 But theek hai.
06:38 Agli baar kaam karenge."
06:39 "Kiya kabhi?"
06:40 "Kiya."
06:41 "Acha."
06:42 "Kiya."
06:42 "Tah abhi bol sakto."
06:44 "Nah abhi nahi bol sakto."
06:45 And I think Om Shanti Om also came, isn't it, in between?
06:51 Yeah, yeah, yeah.
06:52 So Om Shanti Om was immediately after Door, I think.
06:56 Yeah, 2007.
06:58 Yeah.
06:59 So Farah Sawmi in Iqbal and Door and that's when she thought of casting me for Om Shanti
07:05 Om as Pappu.
07:06 Pappu.
07:07 Master.
07:07 It was wonderful.
07:09 I mean, you know, I remember almost everything associated with Om Shanti Om.
07:14 The shooting, the promotions, the release, the London shows, everything.
07:19 So it was quite an experience with both of them, Farah and obviously Shah Rukh.
07:24 Shah Rukh.
07:25 But that was another very, it was a role that left an impact, despite having so many other
07:31 people on it.
07:32 So I feel, you know, of course, on day one, I was very nervous, you know, working with
07:39 Shah and how is he going to feel?
07:42 Because I come from a school where we improvise a lot, you know, where we kind of think about
07:47 the character, but we also improvise.
07:48 So I said, I was thinking of quite a few things to improvise, but I said, I don't know how
07:54 Shah is going to react to the whole thing.
07:55 So after a couple of hours, I said, whatever he thinks, let me at least go and speak with
08:01 him and tell him that this is what I have in mind, should we?
08:03 You know, because otherwise I'm going to be miserable throughout the shoot.
08:07 Right.
08:08 And I said, if he doesn't like it, I'm as it is going to be miserable.
08:11 But I went and I spoke with him and he was so happy with the whole thing.
08:18 And then, of course, he is so witty himself.
08:21 He came up with 10 things.
08:22 So through the day, we kept improvising and, you know, playing around and that chemistry
08:28 started building to the point where I remember in the evening, there's one scene that we
08:33 were shooting and Farrah finally came and said, enough, enough of improvisation.
08:38 Just say whatever is written in the damn script.
08:40 She herself is very wacky.
08:42 Absolutely.
08:43 Absolutely.
08:44 Wicked sense of humor.
08:45 Yeah, yeah.
08:46 But we had such a great time shooting the whole thing.
08:51 Because the entire experience was very wonderful for me.
08:54 And I think that is what really reflects on screen.
08:57 You know, if you're happy within, then it obviously will reflect.
09:00 Happy on screen.
09:00 I wanted to ask you, is this true that your aunt is Aunt Sir Jayshree T and Meena T?
09:05 Yes, yes, yes.
09:06 My dad's cousins.
09:08 Dad's cousins.
09:09 Yeah.
09:10 Okay.
09:10 Okay.
09:11 So were you kind of inspired looking at their film career, that I want to be an actor too?
09:16 So as kids, you know, there were certain times when we would go to their house,
09:20 especially for Ganpati Bappa.
09:24 And that is when, of course, we would see them and we would be completely in awe.
09:27 You know, they are actresses and they're stars.
09:31 And today they are not going for a shoot.
09:33 And so there used to be always huge stars for us.
09:37 Right.
09:38 So obviously, yeah, I mean, you at that point in time, you feel it was more awe
09:42 than anything else at that point in time.
09:45 And of course, I mean, I didn't have anything in my mind that I want to be an actor or anything.
09:49 Nahi tha?
09:50 Nahi, nahi, bilkul nahi.
09:51 It was only after even theatre when I started doing in college.
09:55 That time also I was very clear because I knew my mom would eventually tell me ki bas ho gaya abhi,
10:02 abhi kuchh naukari-naukari kar lo, which she did also.
10:05 She would wake me up in the morning and send me for bank exams,
10:07 which I failed miserably, you know, thankfully.
10:10 But it was only after a particular point that I got very serious about the fact that,
10:16 okay, this is what I want to do as my career.
10:19 [MUSIC]