Arindam Chaudhari on The Last Lear, Dosar, Faltu and more

JYOTHI PRABHAKAR (BOMBAY TIMES; Sept 5, 2008)

There was certainly nothing Faltu about the film, considering it got the National Award for best film in the category of family welfare. And Planman Motion Pictures’ Arindam Chaudhari, the producer of the film, couldn’t be happier. “I went to receive the award on Tuesday,” he says, adding that another of their films, Dosar, got a special mention for Bengali actor Prosenjit at the awards.

But why call a film Faltu? “That’s because it’s about a boy growing up in a village where there are 70-odd families,” Arindam narrates. “And because no one knows where his father is, they call him Faltu, very lovingly. But when he tries to find out about his father, he discovers that that the people who’ve lovingly helped him grow up, took advantage of his mother, who’s mentally unstable. And he doesn’t even know whose son he is, because all of them had taken advantage of her. So it’s about the dilemma that every human being has a good side and has the other side also.”

Another of the hatke films that Arindam’s made is The Last Lear. “It’s not a dark film, contrary to perception, but it definitely isn’t commercial masala. In the film, Mr (Amitabh) Bachchan is playing a Shakespearean stage actor. The film is about his life – he’s done Shakespearean plays, and that’s why the film is in English – because he’s always in his theatre mode, reciting dialogues out of some play or the other. Arjun Rampal plays a film director and tries to seduce Mr Bachchan into the world of cinema, though Mr Bachchan believes that theatre is the best form of acting. But the film is about how Arjun brings him into the world of cinema and then what happens,” Arindam explains.

He thinks that the actors’ performances in The Last Lear will surprise people. “People think Preity (Zinta) is all dimples and bubbliness, but they’ll love her performance. She plays the role of an actor in Arjun’s film. Once he manages to bring in Mr Bachchan, there are confrontational scenes between Preity and him,” he says. “The reason I got them all is that, while it’s not a film for everybody – it’s in English – if I’d made this film with anyone else, there wouldn’t even be five people in the auditorium. With all of them there, I’m sure people will come in and once they do, they’ll love it. If not his best, this is certainly one of Mr Bachchan’s three best performances. Now it is up to people to debate whether Black was better or this, but most people might find this one to be Mr Bachchan’s best,” says Arindam.

So, does Arindam plan to stick to niche cinema, or does he want to venture into more commercial films? “We won’t get into potboilers, but definitely into massive commercial cinema, with scripts that are different,” he explains. “Chak De, Lagaan, Taare Zameen Par are all from the genre we’re into, but they all had mass appeal. I’m sure we’ll find such scripts and get into such films soon. There are better people making commercial masala and romance. Farah Khan is good at potboilers, and you can’t beat Yash Chopra at romantic films even today. Bachna Ae Haseeno did everything one can do in that category. So when other people can make it better, why try that genre?” he says.

And what are his upcoming projects? “There are about four to five films in pre-production stage, and all very sensitive and sensible films,” Arindam says. “Most of them will now have a larger market. The first of them is one called I’m 24, and it’s got Ranvir Shorey in it. It’s going to be a good film in terms of reach – everybody should be interested in it. It’s a comedy, a light-hearted romantic comedy, so I think everyone will love it.”

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