FAT chance

Trupti produced Tujha Majha Sansarala Aani Kay Hava,which released in 2007 and she was also in the female lead. Trupti proudly states that this film bagged two State awards and several nomimations at other award functions. “It was my first production and I got accolades for it. It was a story of a farmer and his family. It made me want to do more for Marathi films,” says the young actress-turned-producer,who promised herself that her next film would be technically different.

When the script of Agadbam came to her,she was pleasantly surprised as it reminded her of Eddie Murphy’s Norbit wherein he played both a man and a fat woman. Trupti thought she must do something on those lines. She had in hand a subject where the heroine was 250 kilos. A search began for a fat girl and when there was no success,it was decided to go in for makeup and prosthesis. She thought the going would be easy till it came to the make-up part. She and her team was in a dilemma as they saw the impossible ahead of them. Such make-up was possible only with the ‘Hollywood guys’. “But I decided to break that myth,” beams Trupti who consulted Indian make-up man Anil Pemgirikar,known for his prothesis make-up for Kamal Haasan in Chachi 420,Hrithik Roshan in Krrish and Don. He was confident to pulling off this project. Since no fat girl was available,we started shortlisting names of present heroines and that was when director Satish Motling brought out some shocking facts. He said that no heroine would be willing to wear so much make-up and want to look fat and ugly. As the fact remained that they would not agree to being uncomfortable and would not compromise on the work. He suggested that I take up the challenge more so because as a producer it made sense. He also said that we would not want to compromise on the quality and the time that we had on hand. I was actually spending 15 lakh each day and so I took up the challenge,” said Trupti who is a young girl of 57 kilos and had to work on putting 250 kilos to look the part of Nazuka in Agadbam. Yet with all the trouble that she took,the film was completed in 17 days flat with four songs and at the cost of 6.5 crore,a never-before figure in Marathi films.

Talking about the process,Trupti says that first a mould of her body shape was made with cement generally used by a dentist. Then Plaster of Paris was used along with clay and small brackets were made of ears,nose,limbs and other parts of the body and with liquid rubber foam that were baked in a bhatti. This was later used on her body as the brackets were added one by one even as coir,nylon,cotton and bean bags were used to stuff the bodysuit to make it look fat. Trupti would start her make-up at 2 am for a 11 am shift and as the shooting progressed she could not eat or drink,take rest or even use the washroom,which led to infection as well as burning of certain parts of her body because of the foam that absorbs heat,thus burning her skin. Yet she took the risk.

A great actor like Makarand Anaspure,she says,was the right choice to play a thin husband. “He is also a saleable actor,” she laughs,adding that Usha Nadkarni is known for her ‘dadagiri’ and so she suited the role of a strict mother while Chitra Nawathe played the cute and ‘pyaari daadi’.

The film that released alongside Crook,Do Dooni Chaar,Bachao and the animation film Lava Kusa was the only one that actually sustained at the box-office. In the first week itself,all the shows at Pune,Sangli,Satara,Kolhapur,Marathwada,Latur,Beed,Ichalkaranji and Aurangabad went “Housefull”. In Mumbai’s Bharatmata,she says,the theatre manager was hurt during a maara maari as tickets were all sold out. The police had to intervene.

Trupti proudly states that Agadbam will soon feature in the Guinness Book Of World Records for being the first film ever to feature a song on an actress weighing 250 KILOS and shot in only 26 hours.

Now Trupti says that she will never look back and shall keep on making films that will reach a wider audience. She knows that expectations have risen and she has accepted the challenge to fulfil them.