She loves Shakespeare and he loves unhappy, teary endings for love stories. So it’s almost poetic justice that actors Prateik and former model Amyra Dastur united to adapt the revered classic Rome & Juliet. They play star-crossed lovers in this Bollywood adaptation by director Manish Tiwary releasing in the UAE on July 25.
Set in India’s holy city Banaras in Indian state Uttar Pradesh, the son of legendary actors the late Smita Patel and Raj Babbar plays Rahul Mishra, a contract killer who finds love and then seeks reformation.
The trailer, which was revealed to tabloid! in Mumbai a couple of months ago in the distributor Pen India Pvt Ltd’s studio, had all the right notes to make timeless romantic saga.
Scenes showing the desperate, naïve love between two young soulmates and villains in the form of sand-mining mafia who are out to get them are all there. But what we didn’t expect was the company of the on-screen love birds. The pair sat on another couch looking incredibly nervous.
“Have we done all right?. Look, I just got goose-bumps listening to that track,” said Prateik stroking his arm. He needn’t have worried. The swift teaser drew a lot from the chemistry between the relatively new talents. While Prateik is six-films-old, Dastur will debut with Issaq. But evoking that effortless chemistry is not as easy as it looks.
“We began with workshops three months before the shoot. We met several time, spend lots of time talking. We didn’t know each other before the workshops,” said Dastur, who underwent rigorous auditions to snap up the role.
“It helped, we are the same age,” added Prateik, who made his Bollywood debut with Aamir Khan production Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na. It was the wrong thing to say since the angelic leading lady turned feisty at Prateik’s audacity to even suggest that their ages matched.
“Come on, am just 18. I am way younger than you … But, mentally he is younger than me,” said Dastur with a laugh. Prateik, 26, was quick to clarify: “I meant that your hero isn’t 40 when you are just 20. All of that helps.” Their playful sparring made for some entertaining watch. So does the desi Romeo & Juliet have a happy ending in its Bollywood version?
“We have stuck to the original Rome & Juliet by Shakespeare. We have tweaked it in some places, added a bit of masti [fun] and made it more maslaedaar [spicy],” said Dastur.
“But I promise, you will walk away with a smile on your face,” said Prateik. But the shooting of the film wasn’t all rosy. According to this pair, kissing on-screen was a messy affair.
“Intimate scenes are always difficult. It’s so easy for it took look awkward and uncomfortable. To make it look organic is the tough part,” said Prateik. His co-star dubs it the scariest experience of her life.
“It was the first time I have ever done something like that on the screen … but after my first kiss, the rest was cakewalk,” said Dastur. To make matters worse, her first scene in front of the camera included some heavy duty private moments with her on-screen Romeo.
“I thought I should go up to her and speak to her. But then I just held my peace. I had just landed at 8pm and went to the sets straight from the airport. I was nervous, she was nervous and I think Manish was more nervous than both of us,” said Prateik with a laugh. Director calls Issaq his Harry Potter.
“By the time I finished scripting, Issaq was standing on its two feet. It takes it own flight. It’s a love story meets a tragic end, but the best part about Shakespeare is that his text is open to so many interpretations,” said Tiwari, who’s a fan of Vishal Bharadwaj’s Omkara which was an adaptation of Shakespeare’s Othello.
“Vishal opened a crack in our mental make-up. With Omkara he showed that Shakespeare is adaptable to the Indian scenario.” But the big question remains whether the famous tragic ending is tweaked to appease popular tastes. Bollywood love stories have a tendency to worship happily-ever-after endings.
“When I took on the play, I had irreverence and some cynicism. I learnt there is no such thing as romantic love… even in this case, Romeo and Juliet were doomed to failure. They were young lovers who were naïve and didn’t care about the consequences but you almost get the feeling that Shakespeare’s writing was tongue-in-cheek. He was laughing at the lovers from the sidelines,” said Tiwari. The holy city of Banaras also play a pivotal role.
“My Rome & Juliet is set against a feudal backdrop and there not many pockets in India that run on archaic traditions — believe me not all are bad. That charm exudes from its old fortresses and mandirs [temples],” said Tiwary. The team believes that they have been able to capture it all on camera. Prateik is convinced that Issaq will sweep you off your feet.
“Issaq is his baby. I was sent to this dream world of Manish Tiwari and I couldn’t snap out of it. You will feel the same.”
