The visually-stunning musical Lucky - No Time For Love (2005) completes 20 years today on April 8. The film is memorable due to its soulful songs, Salman Khan’s energetic performance and also because it was Sneha Ullal’s debut film. Moreover, it was set in a conflict zone in Russia and has a somewhat eerie resemblance to what’s happening in the region today. On the 20th anniversary of Lucky - No Time For Love, its director duo Radhika Rao and Vinay Sapru, who recently created history with the blockbuster success of Sanam Teri Kasam’s (2016) re-release, spoke exclusively to Bollywood Hungama.
How did you get the idea of making this film and setting it in a conflict zone, that too 20 years ago? Not many thought of something like this then…
I guess we made a film ahead of its time. Look at what’s happening today in Ukraine and Russia. We still can’t believe that we thought of a story and the same is unfolding everywhere in the world, not just in Ukraine-Russia but also in other parts.
Was Salman Khan the original choice?
If a director has a Prince Charming type of character in your film, he or she would desire to have Salman Khan. He suits the role to the T in terms of the way he looks, his lovely eyes, his kind-hearted personality, etc. Hence, he was at the top of the list. We were fortunate to have gotten a chance to work with him, too, for our first film. Isko Act of God bol sakte hai (laughs).
During the release of Lucky - No Time For Love, there were speculations that Sneha Ullal was purposely cast as she looked similar to Aishwarya Rai Bachchan…
There was no truth to these stories. We were looking for a new face for the title role. We held extensive auditions for it. One day, Aprita Khan Sharma happened to tell us that there was a girl in her college who was very pretty. We reached out to her and did her audition. We realized that she was very good for the role. She had those innocent and cute looks. This is how she was locked.
The fact that she was beautiful and resembled Aishwarya, wasn’t that a good thing? After all, Aishwarya is so stunning. We did discuss that she has a bit of a resemblance. But it’s not as striking as compared to the noise which was created then. There was a faint resemblance. Also, there are a lot of actors who look like some star. So, these were all optics. The decision to cast her was not because she resembled Aishwarya. We didn’t set out to find a girl who looked similar to her. We are not that type of filmmakers. You just spoke about the plot; we chose to do something different. We could have made a typical love story. Salman might have even agreed to work in it as he liked both of us and wanted to work with us. He liked our songs; he was following it.
At a time when filmmakers were shooting in Switzerland, how was Russia locked? You also had Mithun Chakraborty in the star cast, who is a major star there. Did that factor play an important role?
(Laughs) We never planned so much at all. We were doing extensive recce at that time to look out for a place. We went to Sydney, Australia and a few countries in Eastern Europe. Then, we decided to check Russia. The landscape of that country matched the war-torn and snow-laden region that we were looking for. We landed in Moscow where we did the recce for 7 days. But it didn’t work out for us; we feared that our Russia visit had turned out to be a waste. Our local contact understood that we were also looking at a fairy tale feel. He persuaded us to visit St Petersburg. He assured us that though it would cost us extra money, it would be worth a visit. We agreed. It was peak winter. When our plane landed in St Petersburg, our whole aircraft was covered in snow. From the airstrip, we could see the beautiful dome-shaped structures of the city. It looked straight out of the stories of Arabian Nights. It's interesting you are asking about Lucky’s recce since we are on a recce right now in Uttarakhand for our next film!
During the promotions of Lucky - No Time For Love in 2005, Salman Khan had said that a lot of people would come to see the shoot in Russia…
We did not anticipate the deep emotional bond that Russia shares with India. They spoke about ‘Joota Hai Japaani’ by Raj Kapoor ji or ‘Jimmy Jimmy’ by Mithun Chakraborty; they were reminiscing about those days.
I have to tell you a funny story. The Russians drink extensively. They can consume vodka like water. After shooting for 30-35 days, the crew demanded a party. But we both were party poopers; we refused! Salman heard them out and he loves to party. He told them ‘The directors are boring! But don’t worry, I’ll throw a party’. We knew since Salman was throwing a bash, it would be the mother of all parties. Meanwhile, we had a shoot the next day. The local crew were like, ‘We are Russians. Nobody can match us when it comes to drinking. We can drink the whole night and report for work the next morning’. We told them, ‘This is a Salman Khan party. You don’t know him. He’s a Pathan’! But they underestimated him.
You should have seen the party. Salman drinks very slowly. He was laughing and enjoying with them. Meanwhile, they got drunk and how! They were falling down on the floor. The next day, half of them came later on the set, that too holding their heads. They vowed, ‘We’ll never ever challenge Salman Khan again. Unless we have a one-week holiday, we’ll never go to a Salman Khan party again (laughs)’. They were also floored by the hospitality; they didn’t expect it. They felt that there would be a limited quantity of alcohol. But that was the case. The vodka was free-flowing.
How many days did you shoot in Russia?
We finished the film in one go. We shot with Salman for 65 days. After he left, we shot for 4 more days for the song ‘Lucky Lips’.
How was it working with Mithun Chakraborty? His performance was very entertaining…
He was an absolute perfectionist. He used to come on time and give the perfect shot. People outside the hotel used to crowd to see his glimpse. They used to scream his song names. He has an incredible fan following in that country.
A conversation about Lucky - No Time For Love is incomplete without the mention of its soulful songs. I believe this was the first time that Adnan Sami composed songs for a film. How did he come on board?
The story of the film was about Indian people living in a foreign land. Hence, we always wanted a composer whose soul was Indian but who was exposed to NRIs. Adnan had moved in from London to India. He had that exposure and moreover, he was completely Indian in terms of his lyrical content and musical composition. We had music sitting with him (and wanted to sign him). A lot of people had reservations about it as he was a newcomer and had not done film music before. Also, we were asked to sign bigger music composers. But we were very sure of him and that’s how he came on board.
Did you visit cinema halls to check the reaction?
We went to Liberty Cinema, Mumbai where the audience was mesmerized by the whole story. Then we visited Maratha Mandir where the show was full of Salman Khan fans. It was fascinating to see Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge (1995) playing in the matinee show and Lucky at 3:00 pm, 6:00 pm and 9:00 pm. We interacted with fans. They knew that the film was produced by Salman. They told us, ‘Aapne bhai se bahut mehnat karayi. Aapne bhai se bahut paise bhi kharch karaye’ (laughs)! The best part of Salman Khan fans is that they talk as if they own him. They get personal about his private life, finances – everything about Salman. They were also quite ecstatic looking at the visuals of the film. For us, it was interesting to see the difference in the reactions between the elite Liberty and the massy Maratha Mandir.
You both created history with Sanam Teri Kasam’s re-release. Any plans to re-release Lucky - No Time For Love?
Sanam Teri Kasam is the number 1 re-release film in the country. We would want the film to remain on top. Agar Salman sir aa jaayenge, then Sanam Teri Kasam will have to give up the number 1 position!
What next?
We are in Rishikesh, Uttarakhand and we are talking with you while we are in a boat in the river Ganga! All we can say is that we are on a recce. Very soon, we’ll let you know why we are on a recce (smiles).
Also Read: Sneha Ullal on still being in touch with Salman Khan, “I am a very anti-social person”
More Pages: Lucky - No Time For Love Box Office Collection
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