A person is often known by the company he keeps. If a person is affiliated to a well known personality or an organisation, he is more respected in society. Based on this very idea, writer Hemant Edlabadkar, developed a heart touching story of Chandrakant Deshpande (CD) in the film AB Aani CD.
To promote the film, the star cast including director Milind Lele, actors Sayali Sanjeev, Sagar Talashikar and producer Akshay Bardapurkar visited Sakal Times.
The film releasing on March 13, stars Amitabh Bachchan and Vikram Gokhale in the titular roles.
Getting Big B on board
Said Lele, “We have Amitabh Bachchan who is playing himself in the film. His initials AB make one part of the title. Vikram Gokhale plays the protagonist Chandrakant Deshpande, who is known by his initials CD, therefore AB Aani CD. If a person is a friend of a well known personality, society starts valuing him. But this shouldn’t be the case. We wanted to highlight this through the film.”
Adding further, he said, “CD is a very good painter. After his retirement, he feels a change in how he is treated by others. But once people get to know of his association with Amitabh Bachchan, they start perceiving him differently.”
Edlabadkar narrated the story to Gokhale. “He liked it and told us that without AB, the movie won’t happen. Getting Amitabh ji on board for this film is the best thing and the entire credit goes to Gokhale sir. We (Gokhale sir, Edlabadkar and me) went to meet Amitabhji on the set of Kaun Banega Crorepati last year and narrated him the gist of the story. Amitabhji liked it. Later we started on securing his dates. Co-ordinating with Amitabhji’s team was a learning experience in itself,” added Lele.
Several Bollywood actors like Madhuri Dixit, Reitesh Deshmukh have left their mark on Marathi films in their debut. And, the experience of watching Big B in AB Aani CD would be on a different scale altogether. But Lele clarified that it’s the script or the story that decides if it’s necessary to bring Bollywood actors on board. It can’t be used as a gimmick by every filmmaker.
Sayali Sanjeev, who is known for her work in the TV serial Kahe Diya Pardes and the recently released Mann Fakiraa plays the character of Gargi, who is a creative head of an event company. Speaking about her character, she said, “Being in the Events field, she is in touch with a few celebrities. Akshay Tanksale is playing the role of CD’s grandson, who is her good friend. The relation between the grandchild and grandparents is very special. He wants to do something for his grandfather and my character helps him in that.”
When asked how different is this role from her previous characters, she said, “Gargi is passionate about her career and I could add a lot of my own to it.”
When asked about the popularity of character-driven roles in films, Sayali said, “For an actor to get under the skin of a character and live their life is a blessing and I enjoy doing so. I am happy about this change, as things aren’t about glamour anymore, it’s about your performance and how well you are evolving as an artist.”
Sagar Talshikar plays the role of Gopal, the elder son of CD. He added that it’s not the central characters but the supporting cast that contribute immensely to the story.
