Subhash K Jha talks to director Vikram Bhatt on his 2002 action comedy Awara Paagal Deewana, that starred Akshay Kumar, Sunil Shetty, Aftab Shivdasani, Paresh Rawal, Johnny Lever, Preeti Jhangiani, Aarti Chhabria, Amrita Arora and Rahul Dev.
Vikram, Awara Paagal Deewana was fun to shoot. Was it as much fun to shoot?
Awara Paagal Deewana was a party that just can’t be repeated. We did have a great time shooting it but it was also a very tough shoot. We went to quite a few places: New York, Spain and then Oman for the climax. Firozbhai had an action comedy in mind and he want out of his way to produce it. Leaving no stone unturned. But APD was also Neeraj Vora who is not with us anymore. All the memes on APD that float around to this day are his genius.
This was your biggest multi-starrers?
Fortunately, for me all the stars that I was working with were thorough professionals. The ladies in the film were fairly knew but the male cast was star filled but very committed. Of course, I had a tough one handling all at one time and all of them were together in many scenes I remember in the outdoor all of them standing on their marks but I could also see fifteen spot boys with fifteen umbrellas. Could hardly see the frame! But was good fun.
Was it inspired by Jonathan Lynn’s The Whole Nine Yards?
The Whole Nine Yards was something that did kickstart the project but then it totally kicked off into the other direction. It was just madness.
Which do you enjoy doing more comedy or horror?
Both comedy and horror have their demands. In one you need to have a sense of humor at the least while in the other you should be able to feel palpable fear yourself. But horror is completely director driven while in a comedy even a director has to depend on the actors. Regardless of how funny the script, if the actors aren’t going to do it then it just won’t work.
A sequel to Awara Paagal Deewana?
I think the sequel is very much on. I did tell Ferozbhai that I while I did not have the health to shoot in different parts of the world, I was certainly there for anything he needed from me. Bottom line – APD would miss Neeraj Vora a lot.
