New Delhi: It was kind of a casting coup for the recent commercial which saw actress Alia Bhatt and her father filmmaker Mahesh Bhatt come together. Not
only that, the commercial saw Amitabh Bachchan and Mahesh Bhatt feature together in it.
Farah Khan called it Om Shanti Om of ads as it featured multiple actors in it. Vinil Mathew of Haseen Dillruba fame who has directed the commercial said, “Alia Bhatt, Mahesh Bhatt and Amitabh Bachchan were together and it was a logistical nightmare because we had so many celebrities coming one after another. Farah Khan was telling me this is the Om Shanti Om of ads!”
He said, “We were given this list of celebrities. We didn’t have enough prep time honestly; everything came through at the very last minute, and we had this sword hanging over our heads with the date. It was a nail-biting night. So, we had to somehow pull this together.”
He continued, “We were trying to have so many celebrities, shoot so many sets simultaneously over two days. So it was quite a production nightmare, I would say, getting everybody together. Also, the idea was that if they come, not to just keep them as a lamp post and move on, but to do something interesting with them and play on the sets so that it becomes entertaining and engaging. So, both production-wise and creatively we were trying to figure out things as we were going along. A lot of winging was happening. Like with Aman Gupta who is the founder of Boat or Bassi, I was literally jamming with him and asking him what dialogues he would like to say or prefer. Everybody was a good sport and came with ideas, so we were incorporating all of it. While we were shooting it with just a blur????, because there was so much work, and then finally we put it together and edited it. It’s a very long film. Eventually we got this rapper, Shruti Tawde, on board and we sat with her and composed a track to bring everything together.”
Another coup was Mahesh Bhatt and Amitabh Bachchan working together Vinil said, “The interesting thing is that Mr. Bhatt, he is of course much older now, and he and Mr. Bachchan—you have to be very careful with their age, you can’t keep them waiting. When Mr. Bhatt came on set, the idea was to be very precise and efficient with his shots and try to send him home as early as possible so he doesn’t have to wait it out.”
He added, “The problem was that Mr. Bhatt, Mr. Bachchan, and Alia all were coming at the same time. So, someone would have to wait while the other person was shooting. We were trying to hurry up and finish things, but I think he just had so much fun that he would come out of his vanity, sit next to us, and start yapping away. So, everybody was just listening to the conversation that was happening. And I think at that time the India–England series was happening, so, everyone was also listening to cricket. So, it was like an adda on the set. Instead of trying to figure out how to finish the shoot, it was like everyone was having fun and chit-chatting. In fact, we were done, and Mr. Bhatt stayed back there. Mr. Bhatt and Mr. Bachchan had pulled up chairs and were chatting about their earlier days.”
The Haseen Dillruba fame director is busy working in the advertising industry. He said, “I just finished another campaign for Amazon Prime with Manoj Bajpayee. Advertising has been taking a lot of my time. Also, the film industry is in a wait-and-watch mode.”
