Grand Masti is doing huge, actually real huge business. The film is being patronised in a big way by the adult audience, both in multiplexes as well as single screens. With 60 crores already coming in 6 days, the film is seeing some good sustenance at the box office. No wonder, it has
turned out to be the unlikeliest candidate of 2013 to actually take a serious shot at gaining an entry into the 100 crore club. No wonder, Aftab Shivdasani, whose last release 1920 - Evil Returns was successful too, is ecstatic to the core.
A superhit already and en route to be a blockbuster. How did you guys make it possible Aftab?
By not carrying any pretence whatsoever! Induji (Indra Kumar), Riteish, Vivek and I - all of us understood that we had to do the film with full conviction. If that wouldn't have been the case, Grand Masti wouldn't have worked. Of course all of us had apprehensions around the jokes. What you see is the end result but there was a lot that went behind making sure that none of us ever appeared in any kind of doubt whatsoever.
Weren't you apprehensive ever of jokes, most of which were below the belt and practically stayed there forever?
No that wasn't the case since we knew from the very beginning that the film was not meant for children under 18. Yes, we were conscious of the fact that a small section may find the film vulgar. But then to please them, we didn't want to deceive our target audience. See, we were in the middle of one of the wildest college reunions that you have seen on screen. It is also the funniest and that is something that was made possible since our communication with the content was very clear. We were not making any bones about what we were doing.
From the maker of Dil, Beta, Raja and Ishq, were you expecting something like that?
But then I have worked with Induji in Masti and Daddy Cool as well; they had his brand of comedy so I wasn't really surprised. I know the kind of flavour that he likes; his kind of comedy is not subtle. Moreover, he is so good as an actor as well. It is very important to follow him well. In case of Masti, we had a seven day long workshop. For Grand Masti, even though we couldn't unfortunately have a workshop, the precedence had been set from the days of Masti. Induji felt that it wasn't necessary for us to do any rehearsals and just be spontaneous.
Before its release, a stay was put by a single-judge court in Punjab and Haryana, over allegations of vulgar dialogues and obscene content, besides scenes that degrade women. However, later the Punjab and Haryana high court gave the nod for its release as per its schedule. The movie starring Vivek Oberoi, Riteish Deshmukh and Aftab Shivdasani is a sequel to Masti, which was released in 2004
