Paheli

info on Paheli...





Shah Rukh Khan's next film, Paheli, will see him in an unusual role -- that of a ghost!

But he's not like the scary one that you saw in his recent home production, Kaal, which, by the way, enjoyed a great opening at the box office. SRK plays a 'loving ghost' in the Amol Palekar film."My teeth are not soaked in blood," Khan explains, at the music launch of the film. "I don't have scary eyes, nor do I kill people."

Paheli, also starring Amitabh Bachchan, Rani Mukerji, Juhi Chawla and Suniel Shetty, was shot entirely in Rajasthan in 45 days. Khan says, "The most difficult part of the film was shooting with the camels! They never listened to their instructor, and we had to wait in 44 degrees centigrade heat for them to make the right movements, so that we could give our shot. I pray that I never have to shoot with camels in the future!"

Paheli is the story of a woman (Bijli aka Rani Mukerji), whose husband abandons her on their wedding day. His only aim is to make money and so he disappears from his village. People later presume him to be dead. Bijli, in an unusual turn, starts loving his ghost. Tragedy strikes when the man returns five years later, and people refuse to believe he is alive. The film is a remake of a 1973 Mani Kaul film, Duvidha.

The music is composed by M M Kreem. The composer, a regular with the Mahesh Bhatt camp, has scored the music for Bhatt films like Zakhm, Criminal, Jism, Saaya and Rog. Bela Shende, one of the playback singers for Paheli, is a winner on the television talent show, Sa Re Ga Ma Pa. She also sang for Mahesh Manjrekar's Ehsaas.

Talking about the film, Amol Palekar says, "I had gone to Shah Rukh with a request that he hear my script. He gave me a patient hearing. "Then he paused to smoke a cigarette. After that, he asked if he could produce it!" Palekar adds, "I am very grateful that Shah Rukh agreed to produce this film. If it was not for him, making this film would have been difficult."

Palekar, who has directed films like Anahat, Kairee and Daayraa before Paheli, said that Paheli was a folk tale that had lived over a century."The beauty of the film is the story itself," he says. "It has been told again and again, but it still feels so fresh when you hear it." Shah Rukh expects his film, which has been made at a cost of Rs 14 crore, to break even at the box office. "We are selling this film cheap," he explains.

Shah Rukh, who sports a moustache in the film, continues, "People will not come only to see me in a moustache. "They will come to see the film's story, and that is brilliant. I especially appeal to the women of our country to watch the film because Paheli will touch their lives."This film asks whether a woman must stay with a man only because she is married to him. It also says that love is the most important thing in life."

Shah Rukh insists his film is genuinely different from the usual Bollywood fare. "See the village set-up and the get-up," he says. "This film is really different from the films that I have done before. I am honoured to do this film with Amol Palekar because he has won eight National Awards, which is quite an achievement. You can call Paheli a woman's liberation film."

Shah Rukh says, "I don't want to be pompous but people call me the badshah of Bollywood. "So I feel it is time for me to do these kinds of films. This is not an out-and-out fun film; it is a different kind of cinema. Whether you like it or not depends on your taste."

Though the music is not the usual fare one expects from Shah Rukh's movies -- Kal Ho Naa Ho or Main Hoon Na are recent examples -- the actor feels it will prove popular. "I am sure the music of the film will grow on you as you listen to it. We are releasing it 90 days in advance (of the film's release) so that people get a chance to listen to it," he says.

courtesy rediff.com