‘Often, the actors and technicians would be rolling in laughter during the shooting.’
‘I remember our brilliant cinematographer laughed so hard, he fell off his trolley.’
IMAGE: Aamir Khan and Salman Khan in Andaz Apna Apna
Director Rajkumar Santoshi hopes his cult classic Andaz Apna Apna finds a better welcome in theatres than it did when it released way back in 1994.
He tells Subhash K Jha, “The entire film is one crazy joyride so yes, the re-release makes sense. Its reach, appeal and impact have been beyond anything I ever expected.”
How do you feel about your beloved comedy returning to the theatres on April 25?
Very good! It’s the people’s favourite go-to film when they need laughter.
The entire film is one crazy joyride so yes, the re-release makes sense.
Its reach, appeal and impact have been beyond anything I ever expected.
I still remember when the producer Vinay Sinha came to me with the idea of doing a film with Aamir Khan. Vinayji used to look after Aamir’s work.
He convinced me to do film with him through my stomach.
What do you mean?
I remember he had brought the most delicious khana for me. He suggested we do something different with Aamir.
I had just done two back-to-back serious films Ghayal and Damini. We decided, why not a comedy? Little did we know that Andaz Apna Apna would turn out to be such a laugh riot during the shooting and after release.
Aksar aisa nahin hota hai.
Often, the actors and technicians would be rolling in laughter during the shooting.
I remember our brilliant cinematographer laughed so hard, he fell off his trolley.
But when the comedy reached the theatres, audiences wouldn’t find it funny.
IMAGE: Aamir Khan, Salman Khan, Karisma Kapoor and Raveena Tandon in Andaz Apna Apna
How did you get Aamir and Salman to agree to work together?
Both were very big stars by then but they had no problems working together.
During the shooting, they became even better friends.
It was decided we would script a laugh-a-thon about two warring buddies, human avatars of Tom and Jerry.
Was the humour improvised?
Not at all! I don’t work that way.
I direct my actors very closely.
I work out all the scenes and dialogues well in advance.
There was very little room for improvisation.
All the jokes and gags were worked out beforehand.
People think Aamir and Salman decided to call themselves Amar and Prem to celebrate the movie Amar Prem but their names had nothing to do with Shakti Samanta’s film.
Aamir’s exclamation ‘Aila’ and Salman’s ‘Oui Maa’ were also my idea.
I used to give Aamir and Salman cues from behind the camera.
Even during that sequence where Salman is fed julaab and his love-confessions are repeatedly interrupted by his rumbling stomach, that ‘gud-gud-gud’ sound was being given by me.
Salman didn’t know when the sound would come, and added to the scene’s unpredictability.
Andaz Apna Apna had many firsts to its credit.
I was doing comedy for the first time.
Salman and Aamir came together for the first and so far, only time.
Paresh Rawal was a screen villain before Andaz Apna, Apna, we gave him a comic image.
We revived the ‘Ajit-Robert’ jokes with Ajit’s son playing an Ajit replica.
Raveena Tandon and Karisma Kapoor were brought together.
IMAGE: Aamir Khan and Salman Khan in Andaz Apna Apna
Curiously, Andaz Apna Apna got a lukewarm response from the audience when it was released on April 11 ,1994?
It was badly marketed and distributed.
Nobody knew the film was coming.
We got a below average opening but over the years, the film has acquired a cult status.
People remember all the dialogues.
If you had a chance to re-release any of your other films, which would it be?
Lajja. I don’t think it got its due.
