Paresh Rawal on his comeback Gujarati film Dear Father: ‘Audience should expect a taut thriller with terrific takeaways’-Entertainment News , Firstpost
Paresh Rawal is returning to Gujarati cinema with Dear Father after four decades: ‘The Gujarati cinema is now catering to modern sensibilities, and the filmmaking has also changed
The year 2022 will see Paresh Rawal returning to his roots. After Naseeb Ni Balihari (1982), the veteran actor will return to Gujarati cinema with Dear Father, with some help from his family.
Rawal didn’t do a Gujarati film for a while, and when he made a comeback he noticed certain changes in the industry.
“Now, Gujarati cinema is catering to modern sensibilities, and the filmmaking has also changed. They call it urban Gujarati film. For me, the film is either good or bad, and not urban or rural. Nonetheless, it’s a very good thing that young talent is coming up. There are some very good filmmakers like Abhishek Shah. There are films like Hellaro, which won the National Award,” says Rawal.
“So all the films are happening, and the audience is also receiving them like gusto,” he adds.
There is one thing that he feels is still missing and needs to be looked into.
“It’s the availability of theatres. If there are more theatres and a good, solid, muscular distribution channel then it will help the industry,” he suggests.
Rawal might have been absent from Gujarati films, but he has been a regular in the theatre space since his first Gujarati play Vairee in 1972.
“I have been doing Gujarati theatre since 1972. I didn’t do it for the last two years because of the coronavirus pandemic,” he tells Firstpost.
“My last outing in Gujarati cinema in 1982 was not that satisfying. So all this while I was thinking of doing something in my mother tongue because we have so many good stories,” he adds.
He feels that the Gujarati audience is well nurtured and groomed, and they are used to watching terrific plays. “So I wanted to reach out to the audience and give them something. When you have such a solid audience, it is a crime or a sin to give them something that is substandard. In fact, I was talking to many filmmakers to do something in Gujarati. It has been my wish to act in a Gujarati film for many years,” he shares.
Paresh Rawal in a still from Dear Father
He finally found the perfect film but was met with some challenges.
It was challenging for the makers of Dear Father, directed by Umang Vyas, to smoothly adapt from the popular Gujarati play of the same name to a feature film.
“It was very exciting to make Dear Father, the film because I knew the material and character inside out. The only challenge was how to turn it into screenplay. We didn’t want it to look like people were watching a drama. There were certain qualities which were inherent in the story that we couldn’t discard,” he notes.
“The other challenge was not to have theatricality in our performances. So as an actor, I have to be quite alert about it. We had to ensure it looked like film acting,” he shares.
The film revolves around a three-member family — a young couple, played by Chetan Dhanani and Manasi Parekh, and Dhanani’s on-screen father (Rawal). The veteran actor plays a concerned dad and father-in-law in the film. Then comes a twist in the family drama when Rawal’s character falls from a balcony. Interestingly, the officer investigating the case resembles Rawal’s character.
“The audience should expect a taut thriller. They should expect a no-nonsense kind of a thriller. There is also some terrific takeaway,” he says.
The play was written by the late author Uttam Gada, and the movie has Rawal’s son Aditya as one of the screenwriters.
“Aditya did a film writing course in New York, so he knows his job. He has seen the play also, so he knows it inside out. In fact, his fresh ideas were welcome. They gave a boost to the material,” says the proud father, who chose to stick to acting in the film rather than giving tips on writing to his son.
The family association doesn’t end here. His wife, Swaroop Sampat Rawal, who is also an actress, is one of the co-producers of Dear Father, which will be in cinemas on 4 March.
“We have a long marriage of almost 35 years, so it was easy working with her,” he says about his wife, who has featured in movies like Saathiya and Uri: The Surgical Strike.
But the mother-son duo didn’t make it to the screen.
“My wife and son don’t have cameo roles in the film. It’s not a family outing. Had there been a role for them, they would have played it. I don’t see the film as a family outing, like some picnic where everyone is doing something together. Filmmaking is such a tedious and laborious process that you don’t have time to enjoy those kinds of things. But of course, when you are with your family, you feel safe and nice,” says Rawal, who wants to remake Dear Father in Hindi.
The actor also has Hindi films Aankh Micholi and Shehzada in his kitty.
“I am also looking forward to a film directed by Anant Mahadevan. It stars me and Naseeruddin Shah and is based on Satyajit Ray’s story. It’s going to be a very interesting film,” shares Rawal.
But fans will be disappointed as he isn’t sure what’s happening on the Hera Pheri franchise front. There had been talks of filmmaker Priyadarshan bringing back Rawal, Akshay Kumar and Suniel Shetty together on the big screen, but it seems like that’s not going to happen anytime soon.
“As regards to Hera Pheri 3, I know nothing right now. I don’t know if it will happen or not. But one thing I know is that it should happen. Let’s see how and when,” says the actor, who portrayed the much-loved Baburao Ganpatrao Apte in the Hera Pheri franchise.
Natalia Ningthoujam is a Manipur-based journalist. She knows how to smoothly switch from being a fan to a writer whenever needed. She tweets at @nattynick.
