A Different Role Call

Actor Parvin Dabas might have a tongue twister of a title for his debut film as director,but he is sure that there is an interesting story behind Sahi Dhandhe Galat Bande. While he had made up his mind to play with the words ‘right job,wrong guys’,he found it difficult to find an apt translation of the English phrase,in Hindi. That is when he decided to run an in-house contest for the cast and crew of the film,with a prize of Rs 15,000. Soon,Anupam Kher,who is also acting in the film,came to know about the contest and put it on Twitter. “A boy came up with Sahi Dhandhe,Galat Bande,” says Dabas,who was in Chandigarh to promote the directorial debut,which releases on August 19.

The name of the actor’s production house being called Very Fishy Films,co-owned with wife Preeti Jhangiani,also has a reason. He says. “I love water,am a keen scuba diver,that’s why the word fishy,” says Dabas,who aims to make films that are complete entertainers,with a message. His SDGB is an action-packed comedy,revolving around four main characters,a gang of boys who run into a problem and must make a choice between ‘right’ and ‘wrong’. Starring Kuldip Rohil,Ashish Nayyar,Chandigarh’s Vansh Bhardwaj,Tina Desai and veterans like Kher,Yashpal Sharma,Kiran Juneja Sippy and Sharat Saxena,Dabas conducted test runs of the film and made changes according to the feedback. “The girls at Jai Hind College in South Mumbai enjoyed watching the test runs the most ,” says Dabas.

Shot in a month,in and around Delhi,the film was written over one and half years,while Dabas was shooting for My Name is Khan. “Writing for films began right after I did Monsoon Wedding. I believe in a lot of preparation and am strictly against wasting money,without cutting corners,” adds Dabas,who held rehearsals for actors and drew the film’s storyboard,featuring each scene. While the film is only two-hour long,Dabas has managed to fit in seven songs,by three different music directors and is now waiting for the response for the song Naino Wali Whiskey,that is already on air.

Speaking about the films he hopes to work on in the future,he says,“We will look at sensible entertainers. Nothing pseudo,intellectual or arty. With the success of films like Stanley Ka Dabba and Udaan,we know that the public’s cinematic taste is improving and it’s a great time to be in Indian cinema.”