And now, Jeet completes 15 years in Tollywood. The journey began with Saathi, and today his Boss 2 hits the theatres. “It still feels like just the beginning. There is so much more to do. I feel so much gratitude. It has been wonderful. There’s a lot of work to do. Thank you for your love and support,” smiles Jeet. A t2 chat.
Your Boss 2 is releasing alongside Dev’s Chaamp...
That’s not something new. It’s regular. It has happened in the past also. We are just waiting to see how we connect with the people.
Do you still get the Friday jitters?
There is a lot of pressure. I just want to be with myself.
You shot in Thailand, Bangladesh and Calcutta for Boss 2....
The most challenging part was the Bangkok schedule. We were there for 17 days and we were lucky to get a one-day break, after the 15th day. It was like a roller-coaster ride. We were shooting most of the action sequences, and it was very thrilling, adventurous and dangerous.
What is the key to pulling off dangerous action scenes?
It is important to stay calm. Of course, sometimes I also get anxious. And you have to overcome your fears and perform. We had a great team who put in a superb effort. Everyone was really involved.
You had an accident on the sets. What went wrong?
The timing went wrong. It was my mistake. The scene goes like this. First, the car stops. The person driving the car sees me and then he drives away from there. And I am supposed to chase the car. I tried to get hold of the car. But I missed it. I had gone too close to the car.
What was going through your mind at that moment?
I don’t react much to the pain. I have always been like this. There were bruises, muscle inflammation and spasm. I still have a bit of a pain in my leg. Family members were worried when they heard the news. They made a video call on the third day (after the accident) to make sure I was not actually hiding anything and that I was okay. I was doing stunt rehearsals then, which meant I was active.
Have you hurt yourself while doing stunts before?
Many times, and I have immediately got back to the shoot. I have jumped from the second floor of a building and hurt my back. There were safety bags but they were not good enough. That’s the only time in my 15-year career that I took a break for a week. I have suffered many injuries during shoots, but I have immediately got back to shooting.
So it just comes with the job?
Yeah, our job is so physical. I have hurt myself doing a song sequence also. Like when you spin and jump and land on your knees, so I did it for a song... there was snow around… and I ran and I landed on a rock that was covered with snow! The snow wasn’t thick at all. This was during the shoot of Premi. I was sweating at that temperature. It was hurting like anything. It is difficult... but I feel our profession gives us so much that these things do not matter. You get a push, a drive. I want to make it look authentic. I was hanging from a helicopter for a scene in Boss 2 and that was very risky. If there was any mistiming from anyone, me or the pilot, then…. Also, the wind pressure was so much.
What did you do on your off day in Bangkok?
My family came over on my off day. We had a great time.
Tell us about your daughter Navanya (4). What does she watch?
My daughter watches Chhota Bheem, Shin-chan, Spiderman. She watches the songs of my films. It started with the song Jhinkunakur, so it has a Boss connect. I spend Sundays with her. Or days when I am not shooting.
Do you go for parent-teacher meetings?
I like going there, meeting teachers. I always wanted to go through the process. It adds to my life also, my journey.
Since we are talking of Boss 2, do you ever think of making sequels of any of your previous films?
Awara and Saathi. Maybe someday in the future, these films will have sequels or spin-offs (laughs). One is intense and the other is fun and entertaining. People connected with both the films. I keep hearing some trivia, some anecdote of these two movies from my fans. My dialogues from Awara are popular… when I do shows I get to meet kids who say these lines. Saathi started my journey and gave me the platform.
Take us through the Boss 2 journey....
We made an announcement at the success party of Boss (2013) that we’ll make Boss 2. Over a period of time there were a lot of queries from fans that when are we going to release the film. We spent time on it, developed our story, met many writers, some in Bombay also… that didn’t work out and then we developed it to the best of our sensibilities and capacities.
Why do you feel Boss worked?
Because of Surya’s attitude. And it’s a character-driven film.
What is Surya up to now?
He has a bigger mission now. He has bigger dreams now, for the people. When it comes to a franchise like Boss, you would like to upgrade it in the sequel. Surya’s target and mission is pro-people. We did some research and found out that some sequels to previous films had not taken the story forward. We thought of taking the original story of Boss ahead in Boss 2. Most of the characters are the same, though some new characters have been introduced.
Were you always sure that Baba Yadav would direct it?
Yeah. This my fourth film with Baba. He is a very hard-working guy and a cinema lover. He is really passionate. And we get along really well. He makes movies in a sleek and smart manner. We were also very clear that Jeet Gannguli would do the music.
How easy or tough was it to become Surya again?
We would sometimes enact scenes here, in the office! Since I had done this character before, half of my job, my homework, was done. Once you play a character you know you can do it any time again. You know what the character graph is. And so you prepare for a new plot and content.
Tell us about your heroines in Boss 2...
Nusraat (Faria) has a good screen presence. She is a hard-working, committed girl. She has a lot of desire to do something challenging. Subhashree has really grown as an actor. She has matured as a human being. And in Boss 2, she surprised me in an emotional scene. She was very good in that scene.
Arindam Chatterjee
