(L-R) Shashilal Nair & Tajdar Amrohi
Director Shashilal Nair, who had directed the Shah Rukh Khan-starrer One Two Ka Four and had been honoured with the National Award for his 1993 release Angaar, had taken a sabbatical after his film Ek Choti Si Love Story and now, the director is making a comeback after more than a decade for producer Tajdar Amrohi’s upcoming film, which stars his son Mashoor and newcomer Esther.
However, what many might not know is that finding Shashilal Nair was not a piece of cake and that Tajdar had to employ skills that would impress any private eye to trace Nair and finally locate him in a pub in Manchester.
When asked to elaborate on the same, Tajdar said, “I had been thinking of making a comeback and I decided to have Nair direct my film as I only have two friends in this industry-JP Dutta and Shashilal Nair. However, the latter had vanished from the face of the earth and I had no idea how to trace him.”
Amrohi’s journey as an amateur detective began when a mutual friend told him that Nair might be staying in London. “However, I did not have any specific address for him and like an old-school detective, I printed his photograph and began searching for him on the streets of London by showing his pictures to everyone I came across. After doing this for a few days, I got to know that he might be in Manchester.”
On reaching Manchester, Tajdar again had to search for days and finally got to know from an old couple about an Asian man, who frequents this old pub in an area of Manchester named Huddersfield, which is known to house retired British couples.
“Finally, I managed to trace him in this old, smoky pub and surprised him with a tight hug. When I asked him to come back to India with me, he was quite reluctant but I practically kidnapped him and dragged him all the way back to India,” Tajdar recalls with a guffaw.
The film that the two are working on is a love story set in Mumbai and Tajdar claims that the film will show Mumbai like never before.
