The Rowdy bunch — in private

When Bollywood stars Priyanka Chopra and Shah Rukh Khan visited the Gulf News office in Dubai last December, they fed off the energy radiating from the bustling newsroom.

Oblivious to dozens of intrigued journalists indulging in some star-spotting, the Don 2 gang swung into action as guest-editors with studied ease.

However, Rowdy Rathore stars Akshay Kumar, Sonakshi Sinha and director Prabhu Deva on Thursday proved they were cut from a different cloth.

Somehow the prospect of being scrutinised by scribes unsettled them. No sooner were they ushered into our hub — the open boardroom in which editors and reporters discuss and brainstorm — than the stars looked trapped.

"I thought we were all going to be in a room with closed doors. It's better we go to a conference room," Kumar said, taking a quick scan of the sea of faces.

Sinha, who was clad in a colourful tunic by designer Prarthana Chadha, echoed his request.

To be fair, this was clearly not a case of a diva attack. As soon as they were led into a closed meeting room, they came into their own and let out a collective sigh of relief.

"This is just perfect," announced Kumar as he took his seat at the head of the table. Meanwhile, Sinha and Deva were busy checking out the tabloid! cover pages on the walls behind them. Asked if they wanted a pen to black out some of their rivals' faces, they declined with a laugh.

"Yes and next day, you can put in a news item saying Sonakshi chose such and such star to black out their teeth and faces. No thanks," said Sinha.

Barring their strange request to conduct the guest-editorship behind closed doors (especially since they proclaimed later in the interview that the sight of thousands of fans thronging to watch them in action was "humbling" and not scary), the trio were at their sportiest best as they put on their thinking caps.

‘I want more'

If they had their way, they would fill tabloid! with reams and reams of Bollywood news, stacks of society pages featuring "somebody who's not anybody" and food reviews.

"There were two Bollywood pages and suddenly there are four Hollywood pages. I want to see more Bollywood news," said Kumar.

In the 30-minute exclusive interaction, it was clear that the Rowdy Rathore team were the unofficial champions of Indian cinema. In fact, even their latest film, directed by South Indian director Deva, celebrates the loud and colourful films that were made in the 1970s and 1980s. During that era, larger-than-life heroes led good versus evil dramas, spouted whistle-inducing dialogues and basked in being unruly villagers.

"After a long time, a movie is coming in theatres which [is] about dialogues. Dialogues like Don't Angry Me [sic] and Mein Tumhara Khoon Pee jayoonga [I will drink your blood] are some of the lines used in Rowdy Rathore," said Kumar.

"This film is all about dialogues and I can easily say that along with a music CD, we can even release a dialogue CD for this one."

Subtlety is also shown the door. As if to prove his point, the trio had earlier made an unconventional, dramatic entry at the press conference organised in Dubai. Jumping off a run-down truck with a Rowdy Rathore billboard stapled to its body, the three entered the hotel dancing to the beats of dhol players.

They were even dressed in their on-screen costumes. While Kumar sported a fake moustache and cobalt jeans, the Dabangg actress played the village belle to the hilt by dressing in a fuschia and green salwar-kameez.

"She is one heroine who doesn't take more than seven minutes to get ready. She's amazing. We finished the shooting of the film in 60 days," said Kumar, alluding to Bollywood's reputation for talent turning up late for filming and actresses taking half a day to get ready for a single scene.

Back to school

But Deva faced no tardiness while directing his pet project, a tale of a small-town conman (Kumar) who falls headlong in love but also fight goons before winning her over.

"It was like going back to school. South Indian directors are so systematic. Like at 1.30pm, Prabhu says: ‘Sir, lunch break.' At 2.30: ‘Sir, please get up.' And if I say, ‘Sir, I haven't finished my food,' he says, ‘Let's start working,'" said Kumar, grabbing Deva's arm to demonstrate how his director got work done on time.

However, there was no bad blood among them. The guest-edit session was peppered with gentle ribbing and poking fun at each of their personality traits. Nobody was spared. While Kumar chose to expose his co-star Sinha's penchant for shopping in Dubai, the leading lady jumped in to help her director when he was lost for words.

"He's a man of few words and would rather let his work do the talking," said Sinha.

But say the word ‘action' and they all swing into dramatic poses. Executing synchronised air-kicks and looking menacing in photographs came easy to them. Clearly, their walls are up only if they are thrown into a busy newsroom. Behind closed doors, they are game for all things fun.