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After Three Serious Films, DEEPAK TIJORI Is Ready With A No-holds-barred Masala Comedy. He Talks To Pratim D. Gupta About The Challenge Published 18.04.06, 12:00 AM

Your first three movies hardly had a pre-release buzz but Tom Dick and Harry is making all the right noises?

Yes, Oops!, Khamosh and Fareb didn?t get the proper release they deserved. Tom Dick and Harry is being promoted and publicised well, thanks to Reliance taking up the world distribution rights. So, I can safely say that the movie will see the light at the end of the tunnel. They have got the marketing strategy right for the film.

How did you come up with the idea?

The production house Oracle Entertainment came to me and hired me as a director. They had seen my movies and said they had full faith in me as a director. Now, they wanted me to make a comedy about three guys chasing a girl. I felt there were too many movies in that genre. So, I thought of doing a comedy on Gandhiji?s three monkeys. There was also a very popular play running in Mumbai on the same theme. I never did watch it though. But we started developing the script on those lines ? a situational comedy about three men, one blind, one deaf and one mute.

Having made serious movies, did you find making a comedy challenging?

See, Tom Dick and Harry was not an ordinary comedy. That it?s also about three challenged people made it a more challenging task for me. It?s like putting many things in one basket and managing to pull off one single thing. The major contribution came from my three main actors who really became the characters during the making of the movie. The chemistry that the three share is incredible. At times I didn?t have to direct them, they improvised the scenes on their own.

What is the nature of the comedy?

It is not very slapstick, not over the top at all. Tom Dick and Harry is closer to the Andaz Apna Apna genre of fun films. It is, of course, tougher to make people laugh than say make a thriller where once you have the script, it?s all about the right camera angles.

How did you go about casting your three main characters?

Dino Morea and Jimmy Sheirgill, we have wanted to work together for a long time. The enthusiasm they showed for the project is amazing. At this juncture of their careers, they wanted to do a comedy and so did I. So, Tom Dick and Harry is an important film for all three of us. The two did a lot of workshops to train themselves and that hard work shows in the movie. As for Anuj Sawhney, he came on board much later. He too went to a blind school to get his body language right.

Have you postponed your release to avoid Pyaare Mohan?

All I know is that Tom Dick and Harry is now releasing on May 5. My distribution company Reliance wanted two more weeks for publicity before it reaches theatres.

Deepak Tijori

But how do you have two comedies on deaf-and-mute heroes ready for release together?

See, if you look at the two carefully, only my characters are similar to Pyaare Mohan. Now, you have similar characters in many movies ? cops, doctors, gangsters. Here they are deaf and mute. I genuinely think it?s a coincidence. We were all thinking the same thing at the same time.

Between the two, Tom Dick and Harry seems to have the pre-release edge because of Himesh Reshammiya?s music?

I have to give it to Himesh for having the foresight of which song can become a big hit. I used to keep on giving him one situation after the other and he would keep coming up with great tracks. He has huge confidence in his music. We had a great time shooting the songs and the music has really caught on with the people.

What are the ladies doing in your movie?

Well, they have very clearly defined roles in the film. Kim Sharma is playing a fisherwoman, something she has never done before. Celina Jaitley is playing a pole dancer. Then Gulshan Grover has a very interesting character called Soprano. So, even though it?s about the three of them, the film does have lots of supporting characters.

Finally, what happened to the actor in you?

I am waiting for the right role, even if it comes in my own film. I wouldn?t do a Hitchcockian appearance. Manoj Night Shyamalan does that these days (laughs).

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