Let’s face it: Bollywood romances have a thing for happily-ever-after endings.
History teaches us that any traditional romance worth its salt will spin a predictable yarn about boy-meets-girl (mostly in weddings), boy serenades girl in pretty paddy fields, boy fights any signs of opposition like a real man and boy walks into the sunset with his girl, heads held high. The emotions are cranked up and the conflicts are watered down to suit the hero’s interest in most films.
But all that’s about to change. Bollywood will soon man up. Shuddh Desi Romance, directed by Maneesh Sharma, out on Thursday in the UAE, claims his film will present a unique spin on relationships.
“It’s not your usual visually fantastic, formulaic romantic comedy,” Sharma, who directed the wedding-planner hit Band Baaja Baaraat in 2010, said. “In the garb of a romantic comedy, our attempt is to touch upon some real issues that youngsters in India are facing. It’s about finding your true self, figuring out whom to make the commitment to and discovering the ways of love.”
To bring his love story alive, he has chosen two rising Bollywood stars, Sushant Singh Rajput and Parineeti Chopra. Former model Vaani Kapoor who makes her debut with Shuddh... will play the third wheel in this love triangle. Interestingly, topics that were once taboo such as couples living in together and lust being mistaken for love are being explored.
‘Not preachy’
“We are talking about things that we have never spoken about before. But we are not making a preachy film here. We are not trying to change the nation or give a message to our elders. We are just talking about things that’s happening in the life of youngsters today. We are showing the real romance. We are showing people living together, having breakfast and chai [tea] together, sharing our expenses without worrying about what society thinks,” Chopra said.
Shuddh Desi Romance is a tale of tourist guide Raghu and the women in his life. If the trailers are anything to go by, it is indeed a departure from blockbusters such as Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge, Jab Tak Hai Jaan and Hum Aapke Hai Kaun — an ode to ever-lasting love and valiant heroes.
“You cannot call them unrealistic films. Let’s just call them larger-than-life. Look at Dilwale..., there was romance in Switzerland and it looked very real. But it has never happened in our life. There was an aspirational quality to those films. Now, audiences are asking for real stuff. They want to see relationships that they themselves have gone through,” Chopra, who scooped several Best Debut Awards on her first film Ladies Vs Ricky Bahl (2011), said.
Her on-screen hero is convinced that a bold theme has been given a quirky treatment.
“We are used to watching the tried and tested love stories. Here, we talk about the dark shades in our Indian culture about societal behaviour and we talk about confusions lurking around love and infatuation. Today, all of us go through those emotions,” Rajput said.
Evolving tastes
The whole team is excited about playing grown-ups in the real world, but they feel that the credit should go to the evolving tastes of Bollywood fans.
“Since 50s and 60s, Bollywood cinema was always ahead of its time. Films in 50s and 60s belonging to Dev Saab [legendary actor Dev Anand] were ahead of its times. Yashji [the late director and producer Yash Chopra] has always made films that dealt with complex issues such as childbirth out of wedlock or Lamhe about a young girl falling in love with an older man. What’s happening is that there is acceptance of all kinds of genres,” director Sharma said.
Chopra also gives all the credit to the viewers. “The youth has become cooler and everybody has become more broadminded. They want to see new things,” Chopra said.
Of late, Bollywood has witnessed a barrage of love stories with unhappy endings such as Aashiqui 2 about an alcoholic singer and his muse and the deception-riddled Lootera. In 2012, actor-producer Saif Ali Khan rolled out Cocktail, a London-based romantic comedy about a suave guy who falls in love with his girlfriend’s roommate. But Shuddh Desi Romance is no Cocktail, its maker claims.
“I loved Cocktail. It’s about three friends living in the same house and how the love triangle progresses. That was their beginning. As far as similarity goes, Shuddh Desi Romance is also about three people, but that’s it. For instance, Silsila was also about two women and one man, but that didn’t mean Cocktail was Silsila. We have tried to make the narrative of Shuddh Desi Romance quirky. Love it or hate it, you can’t ignore it,” Sharma said.
On-screen chemistry
His film Band Baaja Baaraat became a sleeper hit largely due to the chemistry between his co-stars Anushka Sharma and Ranveer Singh. Is he banking on whipping up the same chemistry with his actors in Shuddh...?
“Chemistry is always achieved on paper. Then, you hope the talents will enhance it,” Sharma said.
Chopra begs to differ. She claims it was her director and best friend Sharma who knew how to hit all the right buttons in his actors.
“Chemistry boils down to what the director gets out of you. Sushant and I didn’t know each other before the film, so all the credit goes to the director if we look so comfortable on screen,” Chopra said. Even the intimate scenes were easy to play out due to the camaraderie she shared with the team.
“I didn’t feel awkward at all. When you believe so much in a script — the kissing and the intimate scenes don’t jump out at you at all. They are so smoothly interwoven into the screenplay that it doesn’t feel any different from crying on the big screen,” Chopra said.
For one-film-old Rajput, who gave a smashing performance in the turbulent tale Kai Po Che! earlier this year, whipping up chemistry wasn’t a song.
“It’s not easy and I am not a trained actor. I never had any training on how to lip sync a song or dance in a particular way. It was slightly difficult but I hope the quirkiness of Shuddh Desi Romance shines through and not my awkwardness” Rajput, who proposed to his girlfriend on national television, said.
