On the road with Neha Dhupia

The film is called Ek Chalees Ki Last Local and stars Neha Dhupia and Abhay Deol. It's about two people who miss the last Western Railway local from Churchgate to Virar and have 2.5 hours to kill before the next one arrives. The script comes from debutante director Sanjay Khanduri.

You know what reality TV is. Now, say hello to reality cinema.

It is 8 pm, and we are at the sets -- a street in Andheri, a Mumbai suburb. A small, noisy crowd has gathered. The crew have small identity cards that read '1.40 last local crew'. The director is not pleased. 'Please write Ek Chalees Ki last local', he says, bald head shining brightly in the dark. "The hair wasn't listening to me, so I shaved it off," he tells me. What about artistes who don't listen, I wonder...

It takes all kinds to make a crew.

Sundar, from Tamil Nadu, is the chief assistant director. He is giving instructions to the production crew on where he wants an STD booth. They put it up, but it looks too clean so he asks them to dirty it. They also put up a board that reads 'Hum do Hamare do'.

Then, there is a 'camera couple' -- CSR Krishnan and Vijishri, from Andhra, both testing the lights.

As for the director, Sanjay Khanduri is a graduate in electronics. He didn't find it electrifying enough, and picked tinsel town instead. There are cables running all over the place, and so many halogens that the streetlights pale in comparison. And then, the stars arrive.

One of the first scenes is being shot today. Neha (Dhupia) and Abhay (Deol) have both missed the last local and are walking down a dark, deserted street. It isn't really deserted though. There are youth sitting by the road, lighting up cigarettes.

Neha looks bright in her salwar kameez and lots of glass bangles. Abhay, in all black, looks delectable. This is a star who made waves with his first movie, Socha Na Tha. "I have high expectations of every movie I act in," he says. "Here, the director has a great sense of humour, and his timing is brilliant."

For Abhay, life before movies just drifted by. There was a little modelling, a bit of theatre, all in the hope of gaining experience. Then, schooling in Mumbai, before graduating in fine arts and theatre in Los Angeles. His mantra for life is to let things go, instead of thinking about them and getting stressed. "Detaching myself helps me cope," he says. "It comes from the experiences I have gone through. It is a defence mechanism."

Sanjay Khanduri was formerly an assistant director to Subhash Ghai and Kundan Shah. After 18 months with each of them, he struck out on his own. With no Godfather to bank on, he realized he needed some other prop, and chose to write his own script. The young producer Gurunath Kher liked his idea, and they were on.

So, we now have a debutante director and a hero who is one movie old. Neha, for a change, feels like a veteran on the set. "I love telling them stories about what happened when I was shooting for this, that and the other," she says, a mischievous twinkle in her eye.

She looks incredibly fresh considering last night's shooting ended at 7 am this morning. She hasn't slept all day, having had to rehearse for the upcoming Filmfare Awards. She is happy with her job though. "This is the only profession in the world where I can get up and say that today I am playing a dentist, tomorrow a streetwalker and, the day after, a pilot. It helps us experiment with all shades of life."

This is a comic thriller. A young boy called Nilesh, who works at a call centre, misses a train and meets a girl from Vikhroli who has also missed it after attending a friend's marriage. They are complete strangers and he tries to woo her. The unfolding chain of events reveals how missing a train can be so significant.

Neha has just finished another comedy with Priyadarshan called Chup Chup Ke and is currently dubbing for it. "When you can laugh at yourself, you feel you have achieved something." As a relative veteran on these sets, does she bully her co-stars? "Sometimes," she says, "and it's real fun."

Abhay, Neha, Sanjay, Sundar, Krishnan, Shabir, Riniki, Svetlana, Arthi and numerous other artistes and crew members are staying up all night to entertain us. Will they manage it? We'll see.