Veteran filmmaker Rajkumar Santoshi was not in the best of his health when we met him. But he was more than excited to promote his upcoming directorial venture, Bad Boy, which marks the debut of Mithun Chakraborty’s son Namashi and producer Sajid Qureshi’s daughter, Amrin. The filmmaker apologized for the delay and then sat down to speak exclusively to Bollywood Hungama about the film and a lot more.
How did you get the idea to make the film? Also, how did the title ‘Bad Boy’ originate?
We decided to name the film Bad Boy after hearing the script. I was working on a film called Fateh Singh, starring Sunny Deol. It is produced by my friend Sajid Qureshi. I had gone to London to do the recce. However, this was a time when Sunny entered politics and our film got delayed. This is when Sajid showed me a Telugu film. I can’t recall the name. He asked me, ‘Raj ji, iss film jaisa kuch bana sakte hai kya?’. I saw the film along with our writer, Sanjeev. We realized that we can take inspiration and make a film on it. This is how we wrote the script and the dialogues.
As for the title, I had this habit of saying ‘Bad Boy’ to my pet dog whenever he would do mischief! One day, I realized that it suits this film perfectly. This is how the movie got its title.
You have cast newcomers in Bad Boy. Was there ever a plan to go for established actors?
It’s a story about youngsters. So, you can’t make it with established actors. The characters needed innocence, especially in the comic and funny scenes and this is more effective with newcomers. Sajid bhai told me that Mithun Chakraborty’s son Namashi is very interested to work. I made it clear, ‘I’ll audition him and if required, I’ll even shoot a scene with him. If he’s right, we’ll consider him’. Similarly, someone told me about Amrin and I auditioned her. It was a no-brainer that they’ll bag the film only if they suit the part and not because Namashi is Mithun da’s son or Amrin is the producer’s daughter. Both were obedient and disciplined on the sets.
You have worked with some of the biggest names. And the last time you launched newcomers was for Barsaat (1995), which marked the debuts of Bobby Deol and Twinkle Khanna. How was it to launch newcomers after nearly 25 years? Is it a challenge to work with them or is it easy to work with freshers?
It’s not a challenge. The advantage of working with youngsters is that they can be moulded the way you want. They are always eager to learn. And most importantly, be it Bobby or Twinkle in Barsaat or Namashi and Amrin in Bad Boy, they suited their respective characters. When they do their job well and get praise, you feel proud. Also, thanks to the super-success of Ghayal (1990), even established actors behaved like newcomers on my sets, be it Rishi Kapoor, Anil Kapoor, Aamir Khan or Salman Khan. They were all enthusiastic on my sets. I had to mould them and teach them as well about how to emote and perform.
This is the first time you have worked with music director Himesh Reshammiya for your directorial venture…
Yes. I had worked with him before in Insan (2005), which I had produced. He’s a very gifted composer. Instinctively, he can come up with rooted Indian melodies composed with modern arrangements. I am happy with his work.
Bad Boy is having a solo release of sorts, on April 28. Was that a conscious decision, considering your last film Gandhi Godse – Ek Yudh (2023) clashed with Shah Rukh Khan’s Pathaan and got severely affected…
Yes, releasing Gandhi Godse – Ek Yudh with Pathaan was a mistake. As for Bad Boy’s release, it has been planned by producer Sajid Qureshi. And yes this is a good release date.
You mentioned at the beginning of the interview that you are working on Fateh Singh. Recently, you also admitted that you’ll be directing Lahore 1947, a film adaptation of Asghar Wajahat’s play, Jis Lahore Nai Dekhya O Jamyai Nai, starring Sunny and Karan Deol. Could you tell us which film will go on the floors first?
I have some 5-6 scripts that are ready. It all depends on the investor, the actors and which one has the potential to work more. We also need to consider the dates of the actors. For nearly 8 years, I was sitting idle. This is when I worked on multiple scripts. Now, I am trying to cover up the lost time. However, Bad Boy took a lot of time due to Covid issues. In between, I also completed Gandhi Godse – Ek Yudh. I completed both films in 62-63 days each.
More Pages: Gandhi Godse - Ek Yudh Box Office Collection , Gandhi Godse - Ek Yudh Movie Review
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