A Hearty conversation with Ashwin

After making a debut with an off-beat movie like Dhoop, director Ashwin Choudhary went into oblivion. But the sensible director is back. And mind you, this time, he is all set to shrug off the tag of 'sensible director' with his comedy flick Good Boy, Bad Boy. Here's his account on the movie:

What is Good Boy, Bad Boy all about?
Good Boy Bad Boy is not an out-and-out comedy. It is a fun campus film. When Subhashji called me for the film, I just gave him a rough idea of it. And he liked it. So we went ahead with it. Basically, Good Boy, Bad Boy is about today's generation. The film deals with today's youth - their dreams, their aspirations and about their conviction. They are all trying to achieve something in life and the film is about how they achieve it. The two protagonists are Emraan Hashmi and Tusshar Kapoor. They play two completely different characters. Tusshar is the good boy and Emraan is the bad boy in the film, not in societal terms but just as campus kids. Of course Paresh Rawal is also playing a pivotal role.

How did the idea for this film generate?
Subhashji himself called me. He saw my film 'Dhoop' on DVD one day. He liked the film, so he took my number from a source and called me up one evening and said I want to meet you. When I went to meet him, he said I have seen your film and I want you to do a film for Mukta Arts now. So then we discussed a few subjects which I had in mind. And Subhashiji liked this one so we decided to take it up.

What is Emraan Hasmi's role in a comedy like this?
Emraan is very much doing comedy in this film. He is not doing what he has been doing in all other films, because he is not kissing in my film! He is playing a young campus boy, a spoilt brat. He is not a bad boy in terms of society, you know. When you go to school, as a kid, you get to hear from your teachers that either you are a good boy or a bad boy. Emraan is playing a very different character and I think this is for the first time he is trying his hand at comedy.

What about the girls in the film? Are they categorized as 'good girl' and 'bad girl' too?
Like I said it is a young campus film, so most of the film has been done in a college campus. Isha Sharvani is paired opposite Emraan and Tanushree is opposite Tusshar Kapoor. Tanu is playing a very tom-boyish type of character; she is a very outgoing modern girl, whereas Isha is playing a sober, good girl. So the good girl is with bad boy, and the bad girl is with the good boy. Isha was already a part of Mukta Arts as she had already done a film 'Kisna' with Subhashji. For Tanu of course I had to conduct a small audition.

With a college setting, where did you shoot the film?
The film has entirely been shot in Bombay, as the story is set in Bombay. We have shot in the campus of Sophia College.

How do you feel is the music of your film?
I think Emraan and Himesh have a great working chemistry. So I hope that will work for our film. The music is really good, young and peppy. The promos will start by the end of this month, and the music will be released in the first week of April.

And are there any remixes, like in any other Himesh album?
Of course!

When is your next film Gurudakshina starring Sunny Deol starting off?
I will start shooting for it in the first week of May, soon after Good Boy, Bad Boy is released.

What is that movie all about?
Gurudakshina is again a campus film, but set in UP. We will be shooting in Allahabad, Lucknow and Banaras. It is a campus film but entirely different from Good Boy, Bad Boy. While 'Good Boy...' is a fun film, Gurudakshina is set in a small town and it deals with the kind of violence and politics that exists in all these campuses. It is based on a real-life story. It is a hard-hitting, sensible film. The mounting is big, but it is not candy-floss.

Again repeating the question, what made you think of this concept?
The script has been written by Sanjay Chauhan. I saw this news of a professor who was killed by some college students some eight months back in Ujjain. I just put the idea across to Sanjay and he liked it.

With Sunny being the male lead, is the film to be an action entertainer?
It is not entirely an action film. Of course Sunny Deol is there so there is action in the film. But he is playing a professor in the film so it's not entirely an action film.