18 Years of Taxi No 9211 EXCLUSIVE: “After Ab Tak Chhappan, no one cast Nana Patekar for 1 ½ years. He was sitting at home. I was the one who thought of him” – Milan Luthria

By Fenil Seta -

February 24, 2024 - 12:00 PM IST

Taxi No 9211 (2006) completed 18 years today on February 24. The quirky entertainer is memorable for its plot, comedy, chartburster songs and above all, the chemistry between John Abraham and Nana Patekar. It was directed by Milan Luthria and on the film’s 18th anniversary, he exclusively shared unknown trivia with Bollywood Hungama.

18 Years of Taxi No 9211 EXCLUSIVE: “After Ab Tak Chhappan, no one cast Nana Patekar for 1 ½ years. He was sitting at home. I was the one who thought of him” – Milan Luthria

Milan shocked us as he said at the very onset, “After Ab Tak Chhappan (2004), no one cast Nana Patekar for 1 ½ years. He was sitting at home. I was the one who thought of him.”

However, getting the cast that he had in his mind was a challenge. “This was a time when a couple of films of Bobby Deol and Akshaye Khanna had worked big time at the box office. There was a lot of pressure to cast them. Both are very good friends,” he said.

Milan Luthria, nevertheless, was keen on casting Nana Patekar and John Abraham. He raised laughs as he narrated, “I didn’t tell anyone and I called Nana Patekar. He picked up and was like, ‘Kaun hai?’ (slightly imitates Nana)! I replied, ‘Mera naam Milan Luthria hai. Maine 2-3 films banayi hai’. He retorted, ‘Toh?’! I replied, ‘Aapko milna hai, sir. Main kal aa jaau?’. His answer was, ‘Kal kissne dekha hai?’ and told me to meet him at Worli shooting range in the next 30 minutes (laughs)!”

The acclaimed filmmaker continued, “I reached there. Nana was practising gun firing. He had won medals in this sport and at the shooting range, he used to practice for 4 hours a day. He told me, ‘Chal, apan walk karega Sea Face pe. Tu mujhe story suna’. I narrated the story. His instant reply was, ‘Achha story hai. Main karta hai film’.”

Once Nana was locked, Milan Luthria called the actor who was his first choice for the role of the arrogant, rich man. He said, “I went home and called John Abraham. He asked me to meet him the next day at Taj Lands’ End at noon. Bipasha Basu accompanied him. I asked her, ‘How come you are here?’. She replied, ‘I am here to make sure he doesn’t say ‘No’ to you. Because he might! I want him to do your film’. I narrated the subject. He was not fully sure but Bipasha insisted, ‘You have to do the film’.”

Milan further said, “Behind our table, Pooja Bhatt was having coffee. She saw us and told John, ‘You are listening to Milan’s script? You better say Yes’ (laughs). He was cornered!”

In less than 24 hours, Milan Luthria managed to get both his desired actors for the role. He then said, “The next day, I met producer Ramesh Sippy and informed him that I had got my two actors. He was shocked and asked, ‘When did this happen? The day before yesterday, we met and we had lunch (and you didn’t have any actor)’! I maintained, ‘I have got my actors and I am going ahead. I want opposites and I don’t think anybody can be as opposite as Nana and John’.”

Taxi No 9211 was a decent hit and made not just the moviegoers but also the producers, investors and the industry happy. Except one. A young college-going girl’s life became hell after the film was out. In a scene, Sunita (Sonali Kulkarni) shares the mobile number of hubby Raghav (Nana Patekar). Incidentally, it turned out to be the actual number of a girl named Nessy John, who was then a Class 11 student from Mumbai. In no time, she was bombarded with calls. In the film, Raghav steals Jai Mittal’s (John Abraham) key. As a result, many called Nessy and said, “Raghav Shastri, chabi wapis de de”! Unfortunately, a few viewers made objectionable comments when they heard a girl’s voice at the other end of the call.

We asked Milan Luthria about this incident. He was shocked by the turn of events as he said, “We just made up a number!”

After this episode, Milan chose to be careful. For a scene in his recent film Tadap (2021), he gave out the number of an employee in the office. In the film, it’s that of Ramisa (Tara Sutaria). The said employee was called during the interview and the director revealed, “He gets more than 200 calls a day. People ask him, ‘Can I meet you’, ‘Can we do a video call?’!” The employee laughed as he said, “My name on Truecaller is Ramisa!”

Coming back to the Taxi No 9211 incident, when asked whether the disgruntled student took action against the makers and how it was resolved, Milan replied, “I don’t remember. But as compared to madness in today’s times, at that time, it wasn’t the case.”

This writer happened to check who owns Raghav Shastri’s number in real life in the present day. As per a caller-identification app, the present owner of the number is none other than Nana Patekar! And that’s not all. ‘Taxi service’ is also mentioned above his name! Whether it’s a prank done by some Taxi No 9211 fan or whether Nana Patekar has bought this number and also begun a taxi service, we can’t tell!

Also Read: 25 Years of Kachche Dhaage EXCLUSIVE: Milan Luthria admits that it was difficult to convince Saif Ali Khan to do the film: “Ajay Devgn and I both assured him, ‘We promise you that more than Ajay’s character, we’ll take care of your character’”