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Of two squares and a triangle

V S Srinivasan

Sunil Shetty and Priya Gill in Bade Dilwala. Click for bigger pic!

They claim, not very differently from a few hundred other PR men, that this was a film with a difference. But we weren't too sure since the shooting of Bade Dilwala we'd been invited to was at Water Kingdom, Esselworld. Would we be inflicted with the nth Bollywood heroine getting wet in skimpy clothes, we wondered.

This film, we learn, is for the family. So if the hero (Sunil Shetty) and heroine (Priya Gill) jump in the pool, it will be with a horde of kids. So there's nothing naughty about it.

We comfort ourselves, looking around the fantastic location. We soon learn that any place before the camera is taboo since shooting occurs sporadically.

Quite a relaxing place, really. There are life-sized statues of various animals along the path, wave pools, rapid streams, splash pools... Everywhere the comforting susurration of moving water. There are few more comforting sounds.

Someone puts on a song from the film as Noorani gets about 50 kids into the pool for some stock shots.

Then Shetty slides into the pool. The heroine? What about the heroine, we ask. When does she get in?

"The heroine isn't comfortable doing things in a bikini," we are told. She'll get in when the press gets out. We mutter a few things under our breath about prissy leading ladies and let it go at that.

Bade Dilwala is touted as a fun-filled family drama with a triangular base.

"Bade Dilwala is different from other films," Sunil Shetty tells us. "There are no gory action sequences. It's an out-and-out family melodrama." Sunil has just stepped out of the water and the wet T-shirt does nothing to hide the beef beneath.

Sunil Shetty and Archana Puran Singh in Bade Dilwala. Click for bigger pic!

"I play a tough and honest cop and Archana Puransingh plays my wife. We have a baby girl -- Baby Erum. While I care for my family, my wife is indifferent. She is more like a social butterfly and is concerned about her appearances in society," he says.

And, naturally the idealist and materialist slowly drift apart. That's when the policeman runs into the Other Woman.

"Priya's role is exactly the opposite. She is a soft, understanding and warm person. She loves my daughter. When I take my daughter for an outing, she joins us. Love blossoms between us, quite naturally." He gets vague about the end, despite our prodding.

Sunil smiles coyly. "It would be much better if I keep that portion hanging. It would develop some curiosity..." He also tells you, very politely, that you ought to see the film in the theatre, instead of trying to save money, prising the story out of him.

Unlike in his other films, Sunil eschews violence, at least most of the time. Of course, he can't avoid it altogether.

"We have one action sequence but it's totally different in colour. I am sure my performance in the film will be appreciated," he says brightly.

We chatted some more and when, Sunil was called for a take, we went off to Priya Gill, who we knew would be twiddling her thumbs till we left. What, we asked her, did she think of the movie.

"Sunil, that guy with a fabulous physique, is playing an altogether different role here. It's a soft, romantic film with a subject a common man can relate to. It's a story about what can happen to anybody facing turmoil in the family." What about her role?

Click for bigger pic!

"I'm an orphan who extends a helping hand towards the needy with utmost care and understanding; a girl full of smiles." She smiles to underline the point.

"Sunil and I play soft and warm people, whereas Sunil's wife is different. Society, rather than family, is her first priority."

Without intending to hint anything about this movie's chances, just to begin some serious conversation, we ask her why, according to her, did a film fail.

"My, my... there are so many seniors around who could find it difficult to answer this question even today. I am just a newcomer. We do our best and then leave the rest to the audience. Anyway, hard work always pays...." And she drifts, without warning back to her film. "There is one moral in this film and that is 'Humanity is not dead as yet'." Ah, well, we'll just have to find better opening lines.

Why is it that every person with a role in a movie grin like someone out of a Lintas ad and tell you how wonderful it all is. Gets to you over time, and then it all palls, collapsing into the background noise.

This is Shakeel Noorani's first attempt at direction, having made his mark first in writing and direction.

"As the title suggests, it is about those who are big-hearted." On enquiring whether the macho man Sunil fitted into this type of a subject, he replies nonchalantly: "This subject does not fit the Khans. It is a subject for men like Sanjay Dutt, Sunil Shetty or Sunny Deol (read older actors). Sunil Shetty being the co-operative and a wonderful guy he is, gave us the nod and things started rolling."

So what did we just tell you?