A Gentleman is an action film made on the budget of a romantic comedy, say the film’s director duo Raj-DK. “The game is different here. We have made an action film in a budget of a rom-com and that is possible if you budget your film smartly. In this film, we did not have a lavish budget but we tried to find ways to recover money as soon as possible.”
DK added: “We worked really hard to recompose all the action sequences. There was no re-shoot of any scene and we tried to be as economical as possible, so that on paper it can look profitable. That way, the creative approach changes. But we do not feel the pressure of making it to the Rs 100 crore club.”
Recalling an incident, Raj said: “Earlier, we used to take cabs and roam around the city of Hyderabad where, whenever I asked the cab driver if a film is good, his response used to be, ‘No, that film didn’t earn money… That’s a flop’ or ‘This is super hit, bahut paisa kamaya (it made a lot of money)’.
“So, what we realised is that people count a film as a hit or flop based on its earnings.”
DK added, “We see no reason to take pressure on that; people should love our film, not its business.”
Raj and DK are known for making unusual films like Go Goa Gone, Shor In The City and Happy Ending.
For A Gentleman, they have incorporated three elements of ‘sundar, susheel and risky’, with Sidharth Malhotra essaying a double role.
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Raj told IANS: “We have grown up watching a lot of films with double roles, of mistaken identity and the drama and comedy that follow. So we thought of taking the core of ‘mistaken identity’ and giving it a new twist.”
“Back then we were living in the US, doing a 9-5 job and living a boring life. A point comes in our lives where we all have to settle down after achieving the basic goals of life, like a well-paid job, a house, a car, etc. So in this film, Gaurav’s world is that, but the only difference is that he enjoys that routine life.”
A Gentleman releases this Friday.