‘Shaandaar’: Let the fantasy begin

Shaandaar, the new romantic comedy by director Vikas Bahl of Queen fame, should come with a statutory warning: Do not try these stunts at home.

In the trailer, actress Alia Bhatt is shown swooning over Shahid Kapoor’s character, Jaginder Joginder, who’s shepherding a black horse back to its stable. While she makes moon-eyes at the dashing, well muscled Kapoor, she lets her imagination run wild: one minute, they are both riding horses against a lush background and the next, Bhatt is straddling him passionately by leaping from her horse to his saddle. The music reaches a crescendo as she leaps.

“Eventually, we [women] like a bit of fantasy in our lives … we all like our fairy tales while living our everyday lives. Shaandaar is just that. But that scene was a tricky one,” said Bhatt in an interview with tabloid!.

“We trained for a month for that scene. We also had body doubles and there were officials from the health department watching over us in case anything went wrong. Sometimes, when you look at a pretty film, you think it must have been easy to shoot. It’s not always the case,” said Bhatt, adding that the scene, in which she sports a fuchsia bikini was filmed on a harsh, cold day by the beach.

Looking attainable yet beautiful and fabulous (Shaandaar is “fabulous” in Hindi) seems to be a major chunk of the brief given to the actors.

“Since the film is something like a fairy tale, I really wanted some very nice-looking people whom you [a viewer] can fall in love with. Both Shahid and Aalia are such beautiful people and when you see them fall in love, I want the viewers to fall in love with their love story,” said Bahl. The director, who courted instant fame and adulation with his award-winning comedy Queen, a tale of a jilted bride who embarks on her European honeymoon alone, has upped his game in terms of scale and size with Shaandaar, co-produced by Karan Johar (the director who’s known for his stylish, escapist films such as Kuch Kuch Hota Hai and Student Of The Year) and Fox Star Studios (who backed Bang Bang).

Described as a comedy of errors set against the backdrop of a swanky destination wedding filled with wealthy Indians (the kind who bring out their diamonds for a tea party), Shaandaar is Bahl’s third film after Queen and the child-friendly Chillar Party.

In Shaandaar, Kapoor plays a Punjabi wedding planner and Bhatt plays Alia, a modern-day princess. Both are insomniacs and feel a connect because they are wonderfully eccentric.

“We feel instantly happy watching a good Indian shaadi [wedding]. It’s so fascinating. But Shaandaar is not the same old story of people gathering for an Indian wedding. We have added a different take to it because the characters are quirky … And all those celebrations make for great escapist cinema. Somewhere along the way, you want to give people the chance of watching what they actually desire,” said Bhatt.

Actor Kapoor recently realised the extent of an Indians’ fascination with weddings when he got married to Mira Rajput in July. It was a low-profile wedding attended by Kapoor’s close friends and family.

“I have recently come to learn that from my first-hand experience that any wedding is a matter of interest to many,” said Kapoor with a laugh. However, he accepted the film primarily due to director Bahl and his humour-laden script. Kapoor is a big fan of Bahl, ever since he saw Queen and its widespread appeal.

“I remember sitting through the narration with a big smile on my face. I felt so happy. And after the intense Haider [a Kashmir-set Hamlet], I thought it would be a good change to offer something new to the audience. With somebody like Vikas, you just know that he will add a unique twist to his characters. His characters are never single-layered,” said Kapoor.

“Think about it: how do you take a guy called Jaginder Joginder seriously? … I think you are not supposed to take this film too seriously. I play a typical Punjabi guy who wears a kada [a thick bangle], yet likes to ride motorcycles in his kolkhapuri chappals [Indian leather slippers] … He’s an insomniac, yet scared of the dark. My character has these superbly comic contradictions,” said Kapoor.

While comedy wasn’t easy for Bhatt and Kapoor, his most challenging scene involved the one with his father, actor Pankaj Kapoor, who plays the wealthy patriarch.

“I was so happy to share the screen with an actor of his calibre … but the scene in which I was asked to smoke in front of my father wasn’t easy. I would never have done something like that in my real life. I have always been the correct son all my life and I would never have the guts to smoke in front of him. But only somebody like Vikas Bahl could make me do it,” said Kapoor. The father-son pair were last seen in the sweeping romance Mausam, which did not do well at the box office.

But Bhatt remembers their camaraderie and conflict fondly.

“It was entertaining to watch them act together. Their tu-tu-mein-mein [verbal sparring] was so funny and they have such good chemistry. Watching them act was fun in itself,” said Bhatt. In Shaandaar, Pankaj plays her affluent dad.

“I just love Father Of The Bride [The Hollywood hit with an awkward, doting dad] and we both share a similar daughter-father relationship in this one. At the end of the day, this is a fun film with some great music and quirky characters,” said Bhatt. For director Bahl, keeping the fairy tale real and the happy ending believable was the challenge.

“It was a very different world that I was trying to create. It has to be magical, enigmatic and accessible … I hope everybody walks out with a smile on their faces after watching Shaandaar and that’s the dream. And remember, every love story is different,” said Bahl. So does he feel the pressure to outdo Queen, the sleeper hit that catapulted him into A-list director league.

“I don’t think you can ever make your next film wondering how you made your last. Through my films, I want to explore different parts of myself as a director and I want the viewers to enjoy themselves. And I am a believer of ‘happy endings’ because in my life I have had them,” said Bahl.

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Shaandaar releases in the UAE on October 22.