The boys are fun, not just in KatMundu but in real life too. Abir Chatterjee arrives before time for the t2 chat and starts WhatsApping Rudranil Ghosh and Soham. Rudranil’s Golf Green office is our meeting point. “What are you doing on WhatsApp, Abir?” laughs Rudra, walking in with Soham. We head out to the streets for the photo shoot, Abir and Soham lift Rudra for the t2 camera. “Okay, we are not going to get a heroine in our next film Soham, lifting Rudra and not a heroine is sacrilegious!” quipped Abir. Over to the trio.

Abir, you said you won’t get a heroine after this photo shoot, but will you regret it because Rudra looked quite a lady in lipstick, bindi and nightie in KatMundu?

Abir: Ahem. We will be happiest if Rudy (Rudra) never ever wears a nightie again! That was a sight, uff baba go! (Everyone laughs) 

Rudranil, how was it slipping into a nightie?!

Rudra: Not just a nightie, I had a jhuti too! (Hair tied up with a clip) It was such a painful experience, liberating too in a way (laughs) because when I saw Abir and Soham’s expressions I knew how well I had carried it off! But guess who was my inspiration? Mimi (Chakraborty, plays Rai in KatMundu). When I saw Mimi wearing half pants like the ones I used to wear when I was in Class II, I said okay, I can wear a nightie too, no problem! (Abir and Soham laugh out loud)  

The entire crowd in the theatre burst out laughing during the scene where Rudra’s character says ‘Lily Mashima Palestine’ for Lymphosarcoma of the intestine…

Soham: You won’t believe how much we laughed during that scene! 

Rudra: Nothing is slapstick. There’s humour in every line in the script. We would discuss so much about each other’s character…. (Abir and Soham look at each other and laugh as Rudra goes on and on)

The three of you share a great chemistry in KatMundu... 

Rudra: And there was so much body touch!

Body touch?

Abir: Arrey, there are scenes of the three sharing the same bed, hitting each other... that’s what he means.

Rudra: It could have looked like we are all gay!

Abir: Okay, coming to the chemistry part, it happened because the script (by Padmanava Dasgupta) was magical. And all three of us tried to make our characters very real and not caricatures. I think we got our comic timing right. There’s this tendency in actors to go overboard in a comic role, we were very clear that we don’t want that. We didn’t ‘deliver dialogues’, we spoke just as we speak in real life. There are many adult jokes in the film but it never…

Soham: ... sounds vulgar.

Abir: While chatting with each other, in between shots, if Bittu (Soham) or Rudy would crack a joke, we would immediately ask Raj if we could incorporate it.

Soham: Besides, we were all very relaxed. We didn’t stress much, that’s why our acting was effortless.  

Rudra: We respect each other’s work, which is rare in our industry. Soham does a lot of mainstream films, while Abir does urban films. When I watch their films, I notice that each has a pattern of acting and I realise that they are not just stars, they are actors too. That respect is very important. 

Soham: Above all, there was no ego amongst us. We forgot that we were Soham, Abir and Rudra while shooting. We were Sunny, Pablo and Sidhu…

Rudra: And Dhushi Thapa, Nisa Thapa and Nepal Bose! (That’s Rudra, Soham and Abir’s alias when they run into their boss Aiyyo Swamy, played by Saswata Chatterjee, while holidaying in Kathmandu)  

Abir: We gave each other a lot of space. Bittu and I knew from the beginning that Rudy’s character is fantastic and people will walk out of the theatres praising him. We were okay with it. 

Abir, in your last t2 interview you had said that Raj is a hard taskmaster. Is he like KatMundu’s Aiyyo Swamy?

Rudra: He is like Aiyyo Swamy except that he doesn’t walk around with a sexy secretary 24x7 like Aiyyo! 

Abir: Raj is ruthless, cruel and mad!

Rudra: And supremely good. 

Abir: He put all three of us outside our comfort zone and asked us to give our best.

Soham: Exactly, like the kind of films I do there are so many romantic song sequences; in KatMundu I did not have even one romantic number! 

In the opening scene of KatMundu, Abir impersonates Amitabh Bachchan. Who do you two imitate?

Rudra: Ami toh Ranjit! (Lol)

Soham: I am a mix of Dharmendra and Rajesh Khanna, deadly!

Will the three of you work together again?

In unison: Shyam Sundar Dey (producer) wants us to do a sequel. So be prepared for KatMundu 2 and 3! 

What did you love about KatMundu? Tell t2@abp.in