In 2014, actor Shreyas Talpade and his wife Deepti had produced the Marathi film Poshter Boyz, written and directed by Sameer Patil. The film was built around a real-life incident of three men, in different age groups, finding their images used for a vasectomy ad. The images were used without their consent and a news report had outlined its aftermath in their family life. “The three men were coolies and that incident was fictionalised and became the crux of Poshter Boyz,” says Shreyas Talpade, who is directing Poster Boys, the Hindi remake of the Marathi film.
Director by chance
At a preview of the Marathi film, Shreyas was told by many that the idea would work for a Hindi film. At that time, direction was not in the immediate scheme of things for Shreyas: “I was planning to direct but maybe a few years down the line. We developed the story for Hindi and couldn’t find someone to direct it. Sunny Paaji (Sunny Deol) suggested I do it since I’ve been through the journey of the Marathi film as well.”
Poster Boys stars the Deol brothers Sunny and Bobby apart from Shreyas and is, again, co-produced by his wife Deepti. “I had a good technical team supporting me and my wife took care of most of the production work. She helped us sail through changes after demonetisation,” Shreyas says of taking on the new responsibility.
Not a sex comedy
Shreyas calls Poster Boys a family entertainer: “I was careful that it doesn’t turn out to be a sex comedy. If making it a clean film means missing out on a few comic lines, I was fine with it. The three men find themselves in a tricky situation and I wanted to deal with it sensitively.”
The Deol brothers, he says, were a huge support. Bobby is returning to the screen after four years. “He worked hard on his role, which requires him to speak shudh Hindi. He was the one who suggested we do workshops. Bobby had been through a lean patch but both the brothers who have a solid body of work behind them didn’t hesitate to do workshops. Bobby would start reciting Gayatri Mantra and some Hindi tongue twisters each day to finetune his diction. It was great fun,” says Shreyas.
Poster Boys aside, Shreyas is also a part of Rohit Shetty’s Golmaal Again. “It’s a great phase in my life and I follow what Nagesh sir (Nagesh Kukunoor) told me during Iqbal: ‘A film’s result is unpredictable, but cherish every moment of making it. If it works out, great. If it doesn’t, you can’t go back and change things. At least you feel you’ve done your best’.” With memories of Iqbal and taking stock of ups and downs since then, Shreyas says, “I came from a non-film background. I had done theatre. I didn’t know how to market myself. I did a few good films and a few purely for money. I have no regrets. All that experience has made me smarter.”