Dasvidaniya : Interview with Vinay Pathak and Shashant Shah
iView Author: Varun Grover (Mumbai, India)
Email: varun.grover26 [at] gmail [dot] com
Dasvidaniya – Life and death of a common man
I know Shashant Shah since the days when he was directing that whacky, irreverent ‘The Great Indian Comedy Show (TGICS)’ (I was one of the writers, while Vinay Pathak, Ranvir Sheorey, Gaurav Gera, Suresh Menon, Purvi and Kiku formed the stellar ensemble) on TV.
He again teamed up with Vinay and Ranvir to direct and produce ‘Ranvir, Vinay aur Kaun’, and that’s why it was a bit of a surprise to see his directorial-debut Dasvidaniya’s songs and promos having a lingering sadness, a slice-of-life feel to it. Though one could spot a similar team as ‘Bheja Fry’ and ‘Mithya’ (Rajat Kapoor, Neha Dhupia, Saurabh Shukla and Vinay Pathak), this one looked from another world.
So packed with my questions (the fact that PFC seemed to have little buzz about Dasvidaniya helped my decision), I called up Shashant and fixed up a small chat with him and Vinay Pathak (who happens to be the co-producer of the film too). Here are the excerpts:
On the idea of Dasvidaniya:
Shashant: Arshad Syed, the writer (the lead writer from TGICS, and for the connoisseurs, the writer of Javed Jafferey’s Videocon Flashback) came up with this 3-page idea about the daily struggles of a common man. And the idea rang so true, so honest that I and Vinay were instantly kicked about it. It was about a man who never lived his today in the struggle of a better tomorrow – something we all do. We all save our ‘best’ crockery sets for ‘that’ special day which never comes…and so, here’s a man who had done just that. But what happens when he decides to get his life back. And I remember Javed Akhtar saab once saying that the best motivation for a writer is deadline. So we also gave Arshad a deadline…we lied to him saying we have got 3 producers for this idea when actually we had none. But in 2 months time (thanks to our lie), he came back with this wonderful script…something which needed no multiple drafts. And guess what, we decided to produce it ourselves.
On what to expect
Shashant: Expect a bit of all the emotions of life. In fact, we have deliberately come out with promos which have the song ‘Alvida’, so that people know it’s not a Bheja Fry…and it’s not a Golmaal Returns. We don’t want people to mistake this film for any other film than what it is. The film is definitely not written in a typical cinema storytelling structure…the 3-act structure…it’s more like a novel. In fact, it would have been a very good novel…thankfully Arshad wrote it as a film script. It is a very eventful story…but not in a pay-off, bigger-payoff, still-bigger-payoff zone…it’s more life-like, where some things happen without a bigger, cascading motive.
Vinay: This is the kind of film which has to be pitched right. We don’t have big stars…and all we have is our integrity in storytelling. As Shashant said – we are not compromising in any way to get that ‘mass-appeal’ factor in…we could have easily cut a promo with some funny lines which are there in the film, but they are not the film. The film is a man struggling with his common dreams. So expect an ‘Alvida’, nothing more…nothing less.
On the odd title (and me suggesting it sounds a bit ‘Punjabi’)
Shashant: Again, we stuck to something we thought fit just perfectly with the story. The film has a Russia angle, and Dasvidaniya even sounds like a cheerful goodbye. Though Arshad said it sounds like a sequel to ‘Dus Kahaaniya’ but the fact is – I can’t keep a massy title like ‘See you later Alligator’ or ‘Tata Bye Bye’ just ‘cos people will understand it quickly.
On “are we living in an age of dumbing-down cinema/TV”
Vinay: The problem with media is that it has the role of an educator but it doesn’t know how to educate itself for this crucial role. So, it falls into that hopeless state of ‘let’s give them what they want’ but does the audience know ‘what they want’? How would they know if you don’t give them options?
Shashant: But I would say the responsibility is shared. If there is media on one side saying audience wants Golmaal Returns and we give it to them…there is an audience too which laps up the saas-bahu shows, reality TV with everybody abusing everybody else. And Big Boss, Roadies is prime-time TV – all catering to a generation which doesn’t know Chandrayaan but knows SRK-Aamir fight. On Lola GK on Channel V, college kids had no idea about our mission to moon…. But yes, at the same time – we have some new films, filmmakers trying to find their voice. Bheja Fry, Mithya, even Chak De stand testimony to that.
On Dasvidaniya dealing with a heavy subject like death
Vinay: Dasvidaniya is not about the death of a common man…it’s about his life…small dreams like buying a car. The film deals in small chapters like these of a common man.
Shashant: And we are not dealing with death in a heavy-handed manner. Death is incidental…just like it is in real life.
On Kailash-Paresh-Naresh’s music and its Sufi leanings
Shashant: Initially the script had no songs. But as we developed the idea – we found scope of 3 songs, two in background and one sung live (”Meri ma”). And yes, Kailash-Paresh-Naresh have a unique style, they have the honesty and detached world view of a Sufi…which worked very well with our story. ‘Alvida’ has a pain and hope which represents Dasvidaniya just perfect.
On the ensemble cast
Shashant: The cast is huge – Vinay, Neha Dhupia, Gaurav Gera, Sarita Joshi, Rajat Kapoor, Saurabh Shukla, Purvi Joshi, Ranvir Sheorey, Suresh Menon, Kiku, Joy Fernandez…and they all are in various cameos. But the best thing is – we wrote these roles for these very people only. Arshad and I know almost all of them for years…and we knew which character they are going to play. So even if it’s a 5-10 minute role – it’s written for that actor. And luckily, we have got a great ensemble.
One last word on Dasvidaniya
Vinay: It’s a film about the individuality of a common man and that’s why I hope it will strike a chord with everybody. It’s not about greatness…it’s about people who look up to greatness.
Shashant: I have said everything. Just watch it, is all I would add.
Tags: Arshad Sayed, Dasvidaniya, Indie, Interview, Neha Dhupia, rajat kapoor, Saurabh Shukla, Shashant Shah, Vinay Pathak
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“See you later Alligator” LOL! So true. These are ‘may the best one survive’ times. Looking forward to the film.
Oh, wow, saw the trailer on PFC a month back. Looking forward to the movie, raising a toast to the realism in indian cinemas!
Thanks for the interview, Varun. I’ll watch anything with Ranvir, Vinay and Rajat in it. Looking forward to this
More power to such cinema…
Bring ‘em on sir
‘Individuality of the common man’ – this phrase sums it up I guess…
thanks for this interview Varun. it was great knowing about the background of Dasvidaniyan..this is one movie that my entire family is looking forward too..a very rare phenomenon these days..hope it will pull in audiences
@Kenny, Sudhir
Thanks for reading. Yes…Dasvidaniya promos really look refreshing and sensible…one of the prime reasons I felt tempted to get this interview.
And it is nice to see the return of pure storytelling in Indian cinema (with Rajat Kapoor and gang leading the way)…a kind of synthesis between the middle-of-the-road cinema of 80’s (in terms of internal issues, societal divides and common characters) and simple narratives of the 50’s and 60’s. (though Mithya was complex, philosophy-wise, but narrative was pretty straightforward, I think)
Great great..bring it on!!:)
promos are looking gr8 even song are fantatic…. look of the film/characters, dialouges, songs everything is just perfect… it took me to the raj kapoor era of film making….. diying to see the film…..
Great info VG. I see big similarity between your interview and Dasvidaniya which is SIMPLICITY & HONESTY. One thing which we just can’t miss about Dasvidaniya is tagline
THE BEST GOODBYE EVER. I would say best tagline I have READ EVER.
I must say that the promos are really superb.Cant wait to catch it.Hope it doesn’t disappoint.
I too was wondering about the Russian script, i now know why. I have large expectation from this movie. Thanks for the informative post, it helped me a lot to prepare myself.
~fe~
Can’t wait to watch the movie.
is it any how based on the book “10 things to do before you die” ?
…or ‘The Bucket Life’ ?!
borun da, you must conduct more interviews. you ask good questions. even i’m waiting to see this film.
i’m glad to see that it’s big in ideas. if films like these succeed, there’s a chance for better cinema with no star system to flourish! all the best shashant, arshad, vinay and co.
The story seems to have shades of “Bucket Life”, but still am gonna watch this one for Vinay Pathak. He is one of the more underrated actors, but consistently brilliant be it Bheja Fry, Johnny Gaddar, Manorama Six Feet.
I think i have 2 movies on my must watch list now, OLLO and Dasvidaniya.
yeah i will watch it for Vinay pathak…gr8 actor and his combo with ranvir always rocks
This is going to be a wonderful movie.
they could/should have included the line ‘See You Later Alligator’. vinay used that line to tend that filmy show for SONY, i think. his character was perfect that i was hoping that he will say that…. but didn’t.
A beautifully crafted film… must watch for all cinema lovers. Highly recommended…