Swastika and Parambrata, the lead pair of Brakefail. (Below) Annu Kapoor and Saswata Chatterjee

A little like Priyadarshan, a lot like Hrishikesh Mukherjee. That’s what Kaushik Ganguly claims his comedy Brakefail is, which hits the theatres this Friday. A t2 chat...

How different is Brakefail from your last release Jackpot, which too was a comedy?

Jackpot, though a comedy, had a seriousness in it. The end was very emotional. But don’t expect any of it from Brakefail.... I mean there are various sentiments in the film, but at heart Brakefail is an out-and-out fun film. Brakefail is very entertaining. It’s a lot more fast. While Jackpot revolved around four characters, Brakefail has loads of characters. Brakefail is my tribute to Hrishikesh Mukherjee. It’s like Chupke Chupke, Golmaal and Chhadmabeshi. It’s also like a Priyadarshan film told in my style.

What is the film all about?

It’s about five garage mechanics — played by Annu Kapoor, Parambrata (Chattopadhyay), Saswata Chatterjee, Lama and Taranga— and a girl (Swastika Mukherjee). The girl is Parambrata’s love interest but all the mechanics are very protective about her. But then it’s not as simple as it sounds. There’s a Hindu, a Punjabi, a Christian, a Muslim but religion is insignificant to these characters. Brakefail is like a fairy tale. The characters in the film are either black or white, none has grey shades because that’s how characters in fairy tales are.

Why did you cast Annu Kapoor?

Annu Kapoor plays a Punjabi in the film. He speaks Punjabi with a smattering of Hindi and Bengali. I chose him because he could lend authenticity to the character as he himself is a Punjabi. Actually I had thought of three names for the role of Papaji. I wanted Rajesh Sharma but his dates didn’t match and Rajesh has played villain in a lot of films earlier. For Papaji’s character, I wanted somebody who had the loveable look. I had wanted Satish Kaushik and Anjan Srivastav, but when I narrated the role to Annu he fell in love with it. He has brought fresh energy to the film.

You have a cameo in Brakefail...

Yes, I play Altaaf, a notorious character!

Brakefail was complete before Jackpot. What took it so long to release?

Yes, I had shot Brakefail before Jackpot but the producer, Moxie Group, showed the rush prints to Mumbai Mantra, who wanted to release Antaheen first and then take up Brakefail. The negotiation took some time. It happens when a corporate house gets involved.... Jackpot was a hurriedly made film. It was made in 38 days and released soon after.

And you are unhappy about the Brakefail posters...

Yes, I didn’t have any say regarding the posters. Mumbai Mantra felt people would like the posters. Honestly, I didn’t like them at all. I would have definitely designed them differently if I had the creative freedom.

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Parambrata

What he plays: I play Sidhu, the film’s hero. Sidhu comes down from the suburbs to work in a garage in Calcutta, which is owned by Papaji (Annu Kapoor). On his way, he meets Hena (Swastika). Then there’s a crisis which the gang of garage mechanics
tries to escape and hatches one plan after the other.

A fun scene to watch out for: I think the scenes involving Tanima Sen and Paran Bandopadhyay are really funny.

Swastika

What she plays: My character goes through a messy situation and runs away from home. That’s when she meets Sidhu. I play three different characters but it’s not like the usual double or triple role. The situations force my character to be different at different times, from Hena to Rupa to Koel.... I play a village belle for the first time in Brakefail. I have never played a rural girl before. So that was something new for me. It was also interesting to dress up in shocking pink ribbons!

A fun scene to watch out for: The scene where Sidhu and my character are sleeping in a car. A crowd gathers around us in the morning and thinks we are dead. I wake up and find a couple of men ogling me. So I scream and the men scream too! But I had to scream louder than them and I couldn’t!

Annu Kapoor

What he plays: I play Papaji, a Punjabi character in the film who is like a father figure to the rest of the characters. When Sidhu (Parambrata) falls in love with Hena (Swastika) they face a crisis which Papaji tries to solve.

A fun scene to watch out for: Oh, the entire film is very funny. It’s been long since we’ve shot for the film and I can’t recollect any particular scene at this moment.

Saswata Chatterjee

What he plays: I play Shanti who is one of the garage mechanics. Initially Shanti has some ego hassles with Sidhu (Parambrata) as he thinks that he is the best mechanic around but later they become friends.

A fun scene to watch out for: The entire film is very very funny. It’s very difficult to point out one scene. If I divulge my funniest scene the audience will come to know the entire film.