They upheld the true meaning of being a doctor. And then they indulged in Gandhigiri. Arshad Warsi and Boman Irani, who had united for the successful Munna Bhai series, will once again come together for a film on the nuances of law. And Mirror caught up with the two actors on the sets of Subhash Kapoor’s film titled Jolly LLB at Filmalay Studios (Mumbai) on Wednesday.
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| EXCLUSIVE: Boman and Arshad have fun on the sets of Jolly LLB |
The first thing that struck us when we entered the studio was that everybody was too ‘jolly’. Perhaps they were taking the film title too seriously? But later we realised that it was the two actors Boman and Arshad keeping up a constant flow of jokes. In fact, their camaraderie made us wonder what brought the two so close.
The friendship began 17 years back. “We did this play called Roshni. There was this scene where Sharon Prabhakar, at her sexiest best, was
sitting on a sofa. And meanwhile, Boman and I had to dance in full Elvis Presley regalia. I just can’t get the scene out of my mind,” explained Arshad. And everyone on the sets, possibly trying to visualise Boman dressed as Elvis, started laughing.
Incidentally, Boman was the first to learn about Arshad’s debut film offer. Arshad had not wanted to do films at the time. “The next thing I know, Arshad is dancing on top of a taxi in Tere Mere Sapne,” said Boman. The two friends had since then moved on. Boman, who stayed away from commercial cinema, had shot for Munna Bhai MBBS, where Arshad was supposed to play the character of Khujli (later renamed as Circuit, on Arshad’s suggestion).
The two friends however, are different in their own way. Talking to the director, while the actors prepared for their shot, we learnt about their nature. “Boman is like Tendulkar — very technically correct. He gives every ball the respect it deserves. Arshad, on the other hand, is Sehwag. He is simply going to hit. For me, it works. And who am I to say what’s right or wrong. I am laughing,” said Subhash Kapoor.
Boman decided to take a break from the shot to point out — “We are very boring actually.” The actor explained, “Everyday we discuss the same things. What did you drink last night? How much did you drink? However, Arshad’s sense of humour is something else. When he cracks a joke, he laughs the loudest, compelling you to join in. Actually, Arshad laughs the loudest even when I crack a joke, making me feel that it was a good one.”
Pointing out the difference between him and Arshad, Boman added, “Arshad was doing this extremely funny scene yesterday (Wednesday). After the shot was ‘cut’ he immediately broke into a dance. It was odd. When I do an intense scene, I want the director to explain everything to me. Yesterday, I called Subhash at 7.30 am. And this is after I had been discussing the scene with him till 11.30 pm, the night before. After I called him, I realised that I had nothing to discuss. It’s that bizarre.”
Arshad joined in the conversation. Agreeing with Boman on their different styles of dealing with the same situations, Arshad continued, “When I had to do this intense scene, Subhash had come to my home to discuss. We spoke about everything under the sun but the scene. And we ended up laughing over it.”
We soon learnt that this was possibly one of the few topics that the two co-actors agree on. When we asked them to name one thing that they hate about each other, Boman was the first to speak up. “I have to be true about this one. I think Arshad takes a lot of time to get dressed. He is always delayed by 45 minutes,” stated Boman. To this, Arshad issued a denial — “That’s not true. Kya phenk rahe ho yaar?” But Boman refused to budge — “Yes, he does.” Realising that Boman was not in a hurry to take his words back, Arshad told us, “There is nothing that I don’t like about Boman. Except for the fact that he lies about me.”
It was time now for lunch. As the two actors carried on to their respective vanity vans laughing, we decide to take our leave. But not before wishing the entire team success for their project. |
