Abhay Deol and Paresh Rawal in Oye Lucky! Lucky Oye!

Are you under pressure to deliver after the surprise success of Khosla Ka Ghosla?

I felt the pressure when I started the film. But then one worked through the film and completely immersed oneself in the making. After going through the blood, sweat and tears, the pressure seems to have eased off. I know, and my whole team knows, that we have done our best. After that there’s nothing more you can do. From what feedback we have got from the promos, people feel that Oye Lucky! Lucky Oye! (OLLO) is something that is different, something that has not been made before. Let’s see now... films are all about not knowing what will happen.

After Khosla Ka Ghosla, UTV would have backed any project of yours. Why make a film on a thief?

Dibakar Banerjee

I am glad you asked about it. A film is a rollicking, thrilling, adventurous ride... In fact, after shooting Khosla Ka Ghosla, I was apprehensive that people may find it just funny. Fortunately many people saw through the laughter and the humour. They saw how a middle class family sees a crime. In Lucky, I was very keen to explore how a criminal saw the rest of the world. Lucky is about this thief who steals but at the same time wants to be famous for it. He wants his place in the sun, he wants his 15 minutes of fame, he wants to walk shoulder-to-shoulder with the creme de la creme of the society. I find this contrast, this paradox extremely interesting as a cinema subject. He is almost wanting to get caught, he wants people to recognise him as the master thief. He is rich now, he has girls falling all over him, yet he is constantly searching for something. The search for his identity is the film. The search for his place in the society is the film. It’s a story of class wars.

How much of Lucky is inspired from real life?

Lucky is not based on any one person’s life. It’s not someone’s biopic. I grew up in a certain neighbourhood of Delhi... I took a certain bus to school and I had certain friends. Within two kilometres of me, another guy as intelligent as me, maybe better looking than me, goes to another school, has another set of friends. And I become a filmmaker and he becomes a thief. Why? How? That is the sole inspiration to make the film. After that, of course, I did research on lots of thieves... on glamorous, good-looking, successful thieves...

What kind of thieves did the research throw up?

I don’t have specific names to give you. But one thief went into the making of Paresh Rawal’s character. I read about this fascinating guy who is the head of a shaadi bandbaaja and was arrested for being the leader of a auto-theft gang. He used to send cars from Delhi to Nepal. There’s another guy who used to steal only from a particular area in the city. He used to look down on other areas of the city. They have a class system. Then there was another thief who stole dogs. I was getting into the genre of the crimes, the relationship between the cops and the thieves. Abhay’s character is a composite of all the research, my imagination and my childhood memories.

Why pick Abhay Deol to play Lucky?

Of the leading men we have today, if acting talent be the prime priority, then Abhay is a great candidate. Whether his films have done well or not, if you see his projects,his talent on display, the range of films he has done... he is right up there in terms of craftsmanship. Abhay is also someone who could get under the skin of the character, rather than talk down about it. It had to be more than a couple of gaalis and a stubble. Abhay has nailed the character through and through. He looks innocent on the surface but he is a pakka badmaash inside. That’s what Lucky is.

What are three Paresh Rawals doing in the film?

It started with one! The character of the flamboyant stage singer. He loved the role and agreed to do it. When I came back, I remembered that there was a different character in the latter half of the film, which is coming in Lucky’s life at a different stage but impacting him in a similar way. A very similar dramatic function in terms of the story arc. So I thought the same Paresh doing the other role would give a dramatic edge to the film. You are aware of the same persona but when you see the film you would forget that all three are being played by the same person. There is a consciousness... a mythical archetype interacting with the hero’s character. It also makes the script a classic three-act cyclical play... which on the surface is a rip-roaring, funny ride. Paresh first threw the idea out of the window and then the greedy actor in him took over.

The only other thief film one can recall is Bunty Aur Babli. Any similarities with that one?

None! In fact, I haven’t seen Bunty Aur Babli... So, I don’t know. I watched it on DVD, a bit of it... after that I could never finish it. The reasons to make a Lucky are not the same as the reasons to make a Bunty Aur Babli. When you see Lucky, you will know it’s not about a couple trying to break free from their small towns. It’s about complex relationships, it’s about ego, it’s about mutually parasitical relationship between society and crime. It is how one feeds on the other. It is not just a caper film. The main difference is that Lucky is not a con man at all. He is a thief! A petty thief. He is a shindel chor! He comes to your house and steals your car, your jewellery, your cash, your teddy bear, your dog, your greeting card, your music system, your father’s photograph, your handi, bashon, koshon... Whatever he can lay his hands on. And then he may call you the next day and tell you that your car is parked on Park Street and you should go and collect it!

Why don’t you show Calcutta some day like the way you showed Delhi in Khosla Ka Ghosla?

I have a script of a fantastical period film set in Calcutta. But that’s not my next project. It has to wait.