The late Shyam Benegal teamed up with Boman Irani for the first and the last time in Well Done Abba. The film, which also starred Minissha Lamba, Sonali Kulkarni and Ravi Kishan, completed 15 years yesterday. On the film’s anniversary, Boman Irani went down memory lane on working with Benegal.
15 years of Well Done Abba: Boman Irani recalls working with Shyam Benegal, “He never lets you feel he was the man with all that genius”
Your only film with Shyam Benegal is now 15 years old
Well Done Abba, and I don’t say this loosely, I don’t say this lightly, that Well Done Abba was one of the greatest working experiences in my life. The moment I was first called, I mean, I literally stood at attention.
What was it like working with Benegal?
It was my first lead role, to make matters more exciting for me. And when you’re talking to Mr Benegal, you know, you’re talking to greatness. I mean, there’s no secret about it. But he never lets you feel that he was the man with all that genius and all that experience and with that legacy that he has behind him. He spoke to you as an equal, as he did with every single person on the set. Apart from his knowledge of cinema, and for that matter, everything from a pin to an elephant, he can tell you where it came from and which year it was made and why it was designed so. I mean, you know, it’s funny, the man’s knowledge is scary in general.
What was Shayam babu like as a director?
What I saw on the set was a person dealing with humanity with every single person. That’s my greatest takeaway working with Mr. Benegal. If we broke for lunch at 1, he says, can you hold this emotion till after lunch? And I would say, sure. I said, why can’t we not work for another 10 minutes and complete the shot? He said, no, if you can hold it well and good, because I don’t like to stretch the lunch break time because everybody on the set is, you know, not as invested as you and I. An army, I mean, a crew like the army marches on its stomach. And not only must you feed them on time, you must feed them well.
Yes, I believe he made sure the food on the set was impeccable
Considering it was a very, very tight budget film, the food selected by him, the caterer selected by him as the producer was top class because it meant that people should be happy when they come back to work in the afternoon instead of others being grumpy and sleepy.
He was super-democratic on the set
No actor was too big on the set. No crew member was too big or too small on the set. And I will always cherish this one experience in my life. And that’s the very reason why I’m speaking at length. Otherwise, sometimes you run out of steam. So what do you say about somebody when people ask you for a quote? You say a couple of lines and say, thank you. And I had fun. But I can go on and on about Mr. Benegal, but I think this should do for what you asked me for. Thank you so much.
More Pages: Well Done Abba Box Office Collection , Well Done Abba Movie Review
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