Celina Jaitley: Hey Shreyas, Paying Guests has truly been a homecoming for you. Isn’t this your fifth film with Mukta Arts? Shreyas Talpade A homecoming as well as a college reunion of sorts. Paying Guests is my fifth film under the Mukta banner. It was also sort of a college reunion. Director Paritosh Painter, writer Ballu and I used to do amateur theatre in college.
We never dreamt that one day we would do a film together under the prestigious banner of Mukta Arts. This has been truly an enjoyable experience.
Sayali Bhagat: Talk about multi-star films, by the way, how many heroines does the film have besides me?
Vatsal Seth: The film has four heroines (Celina, Neha, Riya and you) and two more(Jaaved and Shreyas) - so the count is half a dozen! How did you agree to be a part of this multi-heroine movie, Sayali? Sayali: I had seen the play and thought Paritosh makes amazing comedy.
When he offered me the role of Seema, a TV Channel head paired opposite Jaaved - I just had to be a part of this mad comedy.
Riya Sen: Did you have to put in any special efforts in the film? Sayali: Since a lot of research had already gone into the play, there was no need for any inputs from my end. Though my character was modified for the film in terms of the attire and glamour quotient - those fine details that work out far better in a film than a play. But the one thing I had to work on was my voice. What about your part in the role, Riya?
Riya: I play Arpita, an oversensitive and melodramatic girl who cries at the drop of a hat. If my boyfriend is a few minutes late, I suspect that he is with someone else and I yell and scream at him! In real life, I am sensitive but I don’t react instantly. I hold on to my feelings and vent them later. Celina, what’s your reason for being a part of the film?
Celina: I have a short and sweet role. But I was keen on doing Paying Guests, firstly because it is based on a hilarious play and secondly, because I have stayed as a paying-guest myself at eight places over two years in Kolkata.
My PG experiences range from absurd to sweet. Some of the landlords/ladies had the wierdest of conditions - like one of them wanted me to chop off my hair or pleat it up tightly! I was a young model then. I have been chucked out of PG digs for no fault and even lost my deposits at places. I also have a pleasant PG experience - an old uncle who was nice and kind to me and I ended up staying for one whole year at his digs.
Shreyas: Hey Celina, I am romatically paired opposite you and Aashish in the film. You did pick up some Thai language during the shoot, didn’t you? Celina : Oh yea, thanks to my hero! Since I play a third generation Punjabi living in Thailand, I had to learnThai for the role. But if you ask me, who’s the prettiest of them all - I would hand the crown to you, Shreyas! I must tell you, you are not only a great actor but also a great actress.
Shreyas: Thank you, my lady! Even as I play Bhavesh, the chef employed by Johny Lever. I end up cross-dressing as Karishma for 60 per cent of the film. The make-up and costume was well taken care of but the toughest thing was to get the body language right. Riya: What was your wife Dipti’s reaction when she saw you for the first time in the female get-up?
Shreyas: Oh, she just couldn’t stop laughing but when one of my friends dropped by on the sets - he sat next to me and did not recognise me at all - I knew I had got the act right. Now coming to my other co-star Ashish, what’s different about your part, buddy?
Aashish: Unlike Dhamaal and Qayamat, where I played cowardly characters, here I am the Smart Alec -the glib talker, smooth operator and the leader of the group. The film is full of well-etched characters essayed by such veterans as Asrani and Johny Lever. They are one better than the other. The action-reaction makes the whole film so very amusing. And where’s my chhota bhai, Vatsal?
Vatsal : Right here! Aashish: You play Jaaved aka Kareena’s husband in the film, talk about mismatch! Vatsal : Playing Jayesh, your God-fearing younger brother was great fun. What a mismatch Jaaved and I make! He looks so tall and strapping even in the female get-up and it’s so funny the way I try to convince the landlord that we were married as children and he or she shot up and I remained so puny. Ha, ha, ha...
Riya: The Jack and Jill number that we shot in school uniforms took us back to school, didn’t it? Aashish : (on a serious note) I am still a student who has failed several times, but to be a part of Mukta Arts project is certainly a major milestone in my acting career.
Celina: The Jack and Jill song is a satire on our education system where youngsters step out of schools and homes and aren’t mature enough to face the world. Vatsal: But getting into the school uniform and returning to those carefree days was real fun. As we shot the song in the wee hours on the streets of Pattaya, Bangkok.
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