In Bhushan's world

Bheja Fry returns to the screens, bigger in many ways than its shoestring-budget original. Veenu Sandhu digs out the behind-the-camera nuggets

Why would somebody pay 70 times more for a shirt that costs a mere Rs 100? Because the shirt is meant for “the jewel of India” — “the original idiot” who charmed his way into millions of hearts when he first made an appearance in 2007 in Bheja Fry. And now, when he makes a comeback in the film’s sequel, Bheja Fry 2, there can be no compromises with his look.

Tax inspector and wannabe singer Bharat Bhushan (played by Vinay Pathak) epitomises the stereotypical middle-class image. Naturally, the shirts he wears are meant to reinforce that look. “We bought those typical 100-rupee shirts for him from Dadar and Parel, from those typical shops where the majority of Mumbai’s middle-class goes,” says the film’s director, Sagar Ballary. Pathak was meant to wear one of those shirts while shooting on a cruise ship near Singapore — a trip that comes as a gift from the game show he’s won. “We were in the middle of the sea when we realised that the shirt he was to shoot in was left behind in Mumbai,” recalls Ballary. The hunt for something similar in Singapore proved futile. “The materials, the textures, the patterns there, nothing was remotely close to the character.” Ballary had no choice but to get the 100-rupee shirt shipped to Singapore for about Rs 7,000.

That’s the length of extravagance the director who’s known to run a tight ship was willing to go for the character called Bharat Bhushan. Bheja Fry 2 is way ahead of Bheja Fry when it comes to the budget. (Whether it is as funny will be revealed on June 17 when the film is released). “Bheja Fry cost us only Rs 52 lakh,” says Ballary. “We’ve spent at least 20 times more than that to make Bheja Fry 2. This one,” he adds, “is a big budget film.” For Bheja Fry, only 150 prints were made. For Bheja Fry 2, 450 to 500 prints are being released. If Bheja Fry was a 99-minute film, this one runs into two hours. Like part one, which was shot in 19 days flat, this one too is a crunch film, only the shooting lasted 42 days. “Nobody was paid for Bheja Fry, not even the technicians. Everybody worked on that film for the fun of it. But this time it’s different,” says Ballary who is also the script writer for both the films.

The first film was a remake of the 1998 French comedy Le Dîner de Cons (The Dinner Game) where a group of friends invites the dumbest people they come across to dinner and, after the party, make fun of them and elect the stupidest of them all. Only the French movie had no sequel.

But Bharat Bhushan, says the Bheja Fry team, wasn’t a character that would let go of anyone easily — neither in the film nor after it. It called for a sequel. In the first part, Bharat Bhushan had already succeeded in driving Ranjeet Thadani, an arrogant music industry executive played by Rajat Kapoor, up the wall. Though Kapoor, as a soft, upper class tormentor, and Vinay Pathak had made a perfect pair in Bheja Fry, Ballary was certain that putting Kapoor in Bheja Fry 2 would make it look repetitive. He also wanted to push the boundary for Bharat Bhushan whom he calls a pakau (infuriating) character. So a rather unusual candidate was planted opposite Pathak — Kay Kay Menon, a man known for his “don’t mess with me” image, somebody who wouldn’t be easy to break. “We even thought of asking Nana Patekar to play opposite Vinay Pathak,” says Ballary but eventually zeroed in on Kay Kay Menon to play a suave business tycoon who would have an answer to all problems — barring the problem called Bharat Bhushan with whom he’s stuck first on a cruise ship and then in a jungle. Right from the introduction, Bharat Bhushan has him stumped. Shaking Menon’s hand furiously, he says, “Ji bahut khushi hui aap jaise bahumukhi pratibha ke dhani purush se milkar (I am very pleased to meet a multi-faceted person like you).” The unadulterated, purest form of Hindi is what the character sticks to in the sequel as well.

Pathak’s Bheja Fry tax inspector partner Ranvir Shorey is, however, missing from this film. “The dates didn’t match,” rues Ballary. Shorey’s place has been taken by Suresh Menon, who is currently in Switzerland “to escape the pre-release jitters,” he says. Menon recalls the team’s own Bheja Fry moments during the shooting. Paying Rs 7,000 for a 100-rupee shirt was only one of them, he says. “We would often shoot at night on the ship. One night, we found ourselves in the middle of a storm. The camera stand was blown away and so was our cameraman — well almost,” he says. “Vinay and I can’t swim, so you can imagine our state at that moment.”

And yet, the inability to swim did not stop Pathak from jumping into a pool on the ship because a scene called for it. Co-star Minissha Lamba had to jump to his rescue. “Vinay has a lot of guts and will go to any length to get the shot right,” says Menon.

For Ballary, who made his directorial debut with Bheja Fry, the earlier film’s success has meant an opportunity to take on more challenges. And the freedom to loosen the purse strings. He’s still a bit bashful about contacting Bollywood’s A-listers, though he hopes that will change now. And he also hopes that Bheja Fry 3 will offer even more.