apaharan

Film: Apaharan
Director: Prakash Jha
Cast: Ajay Devgan, Bipasha Basu, Ayub Khan, Nana Patekar, Khalid Emraan


When we descend on the small sleepy town of Satara after a seven-hour journey by a comfortable Volvo luxury coach, it is almost 5 p.m. As we enter the Club where the shot is taking place, we see a slim Bipasha Basu dressed in a red sari with a matching blouse, with a briefcase in her left hand. She is sporting a 'mangalsutra'.

Prakash Jha is like a possessed man, screaming out his instructions on the microphone while Ajay Devgan, Ayub Khan and Khalid Emraan are on the sets, besides Bipasha Basu and a couple of so called henchmen.

The Club is supposed to be the godown where Ajay Devgan and his accomplice in crime - Ayub Khan have confined Khalid who they have kidnapped. Bipasha Basu has come with the ransom to get him released from their clutches.

About his role in Apaharan, Ajay Devgan says "I play the main protagonist called Ajay Shastri. I play a guy burdened by the expectations of his deeply principled and self-righteous social activist father, played by Mohan Agashe. It is the story of a complex relationship between a father and a son set against the backdrop of a thriving kidnapping industry in the Hindi heartland of Bihar. I have implicit faith in Prakash after having worked with him in his film Ganga Jal. Apaharan does not glorify kidnapping which has become a way of life in Bihar. It is not merely the story of the kidnapping of human beings for mercenary purposes. It is the story of kidnapping of society itself."

Prakash calls Ajay and Ayub for the shot along with Bipasha and we decide to zero in on Nana Patekar who is thrilled with the adulation of the local Marathi population. "I play the role of Tabrez, a minority political leader who literally runs an empire and is a living example of the nexus between the crime syndicate and the political bigwigs. If I had not agreed to do this role, Prakash Jha himself would have done this role and what's more he would have done a better job than what I have done."

Bipasha looks unlike what she looks on screen - de-glamourised and quite convincing as a housewife. "I play a bar dancer who loves Ajay Shastri, played by Ajay Devgan and thinks that she understands him, only to realise that their worlds are too far apart. I am playing a real meaty role of substance for the first time in my career. It was a great experience working with Prakash Jha. "