Sangeet Sivan on Apna Sapna Money Money

Courtesy: IndiaFM
Thursday, November 09, 2006
After delivering a superhit film like Kya Kool Hai Hum, there was no looking back for director Sangeeth Sivan. And now, he is back with another comedy flick Apna Sapna Money Money made under the banner of Mukta Arts. IndiaFM has an exclusive talk with Sangeeth.

Did life change after Kya Kool Hai Hum?
Well yes. Before Kya Kool Hai Hum, I didn't know what will be my next film. But after Kya Kool Hai Hum, I know what my next three films are going to be.

Apna Sapna Money Money sounds an interesting title. Tell us about the film.
Apna Sapna Money Money is about two sets of people. One set of people is behind money and another set is in the search of love. So, the film is about how their lives get intervened and how we end up saying that all we want is money but all we need is love.

Can you tell us more about the story?
The storyline is about a set of diamonds being taken from X place to Y and how it gets transferred to different people during the course of the story. So, the money keeps changing hands and the confusion keeps arising.

How did you manage to get Mukta Arts to produce the film?
After watching Kya Kool Hai Hum, Subhash Ghaiji called me up and said that he would like to do a film with me. I had the story of Apna Sapna Money Money so I said I would like to make this film and he agreed.

The film has so many characters. Tell us about them
There are many characters in the film and all of them are equally important. Riteish Deshmukh is a con-man who is a master of disguise. His problem is that he dons from one disguise to another to escape from one problem but then gets stuck in a new problem. And to escape from these two problems he does a new makeover and gets stuck in a third problem.

Anupam Kher is a semi-blind pandit who is harassed by a dog that runs away taking his 'lota'. Later on Anupam finds Riteish in a woman's get up and falls in love with her. Chunky Pandey is a Nepali Don called Rana Jung Bahadur who is in search of Ritiesh Deshmukh. Then there is Rajpal Yadav, a hardcore fan of the film Sarkar who very much wants to be like Sarkar. He wears the similar attire and operates from a Sarkar tabela. Koena Mitra plays Julie who is a singer. She is a friend of Shreyas Talpade and falls in love with Riteish later. Riya Sen plays Shivani, daughter of Anupam Kher and she is in love with Shreyas. Shreyas is a very honest garage mechanic. The problem in their love story is that it is Shreyas's Dog that runs away with Anupam's 'lota'. Hence, Anupam Kher hates Shreyas. So, to help improve his love life, Shreyas calls Ritiesh who is running away from the 'kukuri' gang which is headed by Chunky Pandey. Now when Ritiesh is in a disguise to escape from 'kukuri' gang, it is in his bag that the money gets dumped into and the whole confusion begins.

The film sounds funny. Surely there might have been a lot of funny incidences while filming
Since the film is a comedy we had a blast on sets. The funniest times were when Ritiesh used to come on sets dressed like a woman. We all used to jump saying there comes the fourth actress of the film. In fact many people on the sets thought that he looked more beautiful than the other three.

What is the role of the dog in the film?
Casper, the dog, was one of the first castings that we did for the film. This dog was trained to do lot of things but his problem was that he couldn't run fast or even if he ran once, he never used to run again. Luckily, there was a body double of the dog available who was then used for the running scenes.

There were rumors that Riya Sen and Koena Mitra had issues with each other while shooting the film. How true is that?
Basically, as far as shoots were concerned, everyone was very professional. There was no palpable friction on sets at all. They used to come, do their thing and go. So, nothing happened on the sets.

How was the experience of working with Mukta Arts?
Whenever you go to a production house, the first thing they ask you is "who is your hero in the film?" and depending upon that and the expected monetary recovery, they invest in the film. I required a producer who would notice the potential of the script and then invest the money. And in that aspect I think Subhash ji was the perfect man I met. He invested in the film looking at the script and not the star power of the film. That is something that I don't think many can do. Besides, because of the name of the Mukta Arts banner, it was easier to rope in all the artistes.

There were certain stories in media that said you had a tough time dealing with Mr. Ghai...
Frankly, he never interfered during the shooting of the film. After watching the first cut of the film, he gave me certain suggestions and that was something which was expected. Besides, no two creative people think similar; hence he told me what he thought. But at the end of the day, he left things to me. He used to give me his suggestions and tell me to take my own decisions.

Any more films with Mukta Arts?
I have committed a film now to K Sera Sera, so that will go on the floors soon. Subhash ji has asked me for another subject, so let's see in the future what happens.

Your future projects?
I am doing a film with K Sera Sera, starring Nana Patekar and Bobby Deol. It will be a remake of a Telugu film Athadu. It will be an action flick with a total Punjab feel. It is 'Die Hard' meets 'Yash Chopra' film.

What about the sequel to Kya Kool Hai Hum?
That is in the scripting process. Once that is over, we will take a call on that.

What went wrong with the film Sandhya?
The film is complete. I just have to get the Dolby mix done that's all. About the release of the film, I can't say anything as that will be Jackie Shroff's call since he is the producer of the film. Nothing went wrong with the film as such. It was just that Boom was launched and released before Sandhya. And all the liabilities of Boom came on this film.

Finally, how is your equation with your brother Santosh Sivan?
There is no tension between us.

He is an ace cinematographer but has never shot any of your films?
We have done films together in Malayalam. I am not working on anything in Hindi as of now that requires him as the cinematographer. As far as working with him goes, I won't force him to work on anything with me that he is not very keen on working as of now. These are all professional decisions. Besides, he is currently busy shooting his own film. It is an Indo-British project. I think the film is called Keral. It is an English film starring Rahul Bose and Nandita Das.