Lashtam Pashtam celebrates Indo-Pak bond

Gulf News

The film, which was shot extensively in Dubai, is also veteran Indian actor Om Puri’s final film. See more at: http://gulfnews.com/videos

Transcript

00:00I feel great. More than nervous, I would like to say I feel larger than life. It's my first

00:11film, really excited. Right now, while coming here, I was hearing my songs on the radio.

00:16So yeah, our film is larger than life, so I'm feeling a lot better.

00:20Me, on the other hand, we're a doubles team, so I have to keep the balance. So he's excited,

00:25he's full of energy, he's looking forward to it. I'm nervous, I'm anxious, scared.

00:32So that keeps us going, you know. You don't want to get too carried away, you don't want

00:36to get too depressed. So pretty much, it's on the court, off the court.

00:40Coming in the same car, he's like, you know, bro relax, bro relax. Come on man, it's our

00:45time, finally. Hopefully our hard work pays off.

00:49About 10 years ago, when I moved to Dubai, I still worked for a corporate job, but then

00:59I used to work for a shipping company. And I had lunch on my day one with a few colleagues

01:03and a couple of them were Pakistani. It was the first time I ever met one. And I immediately

01:08called folks back home, my friends and all, you know what, I had lunch with a Pakistani.

01:12And the first thing was, no, you had lunch with a Pakistani? How are they like? Did they

01:17want to hurt you? I'm like, no, no, not at all. So it's a very different world that I

01:24got exposed to living here. And over the years, you know, this seed was already there. It

01:29was always there, you know. I said, someone has to tell this story. We keep seeing films,

01:34we've seen a lot of films in Bollywood about India, Pakistan, but somewhere the narrative

01:38was more on the hatred side than on the core friendship. And that's how I think the thought

01:45came about.

01:47These two boys, you know, when they are kids, they have no idea who is Pakistani and who

01:51is Hindustani. I mean, he has had a very nice life, which you must have seen in the trailer.

01:55Jab dosti ki the toh pata nahi tha ki Hindustani aur Pakistani aapas mein dost nahi hu sakte.

01:59Toh bachman mein dosti ho jati hai. Jab bade hote, then they, you know, they have some

02:03misconceptions.

02:04That's what our film stands for. It's universal brotherhood. We're trying to say that friendship

02:07transcends beyond political borders. And that's what the film and our world is about, right?

02:12And though the context is an India-Pakistan film, but its essence can be true for any

02:16friendship, you know, which is beyond the limitations of the political borders or the

02:20religion.

02:22Surreal. I had gotten his number through someone, through someone, through someone, and he finally

02:28got to his manager. And, you know, Sunilji had said, I'll speak with Omji today and I'll

02:35see if I can arrange a meeting. I was like, what? I'm going to meet him today? So it's

02:39a fanboy moment. I went to his house and he opened the door. It was just surreal. I just

02:44missed his feet. And I was like, sir, one thing is off the bucket list today. I've always

02:47had a desire to meet you. Whatever happens today, I don't even care anymore. I've just

02:51met you.

02:52I just want to add one thing. Before he entered to the meeting, he called me and said, I'm

02:55going right now to meet. I will call you in 20 minutes. Three hours later, I was still

02:59waiting the call, calling him, not answering. I said, something went wrong.

03:02This guy has killed himself.

03:04What happened inside? You tell.

03:06Two hours, I narrated the script to him. And at the end of it, Puri Sahib had, you know,

03:11a tear or two in his eyes. And he said, I want to do this. And I said, sir, I am not

03:17even sure if I can afford you. I just wanted to come and talk to you and see what you feel.

03:21And he said, I never talked to you about money. We'll make this work. But I want to play this role.

03:25I have spent a lot of time with him. And having said that, not just on set, I think he was

03:30really humble and modest that I happened to have spent time with him off set also. So

03:35till date, I mean, I was a fan of Om Puri Sahib as an actor. But after meeting him,

03:40I think he's a gem of a person. You know, he was a true legend in so many ways.

03:45Starting off with making me comfortable while I was working with him. When I interacted

03:50with him for the first time on set on our first day of shoot. So he was talking to me in Punjabi.

03:56Like in Punjabi, they say, how are you, my son?

03:59So he started the conversation by giving me a warm hug. And then he was really helpful.

04:04Yeah, giving me so many tips on how to bring out the right emotion, to bring out the right

04:08character. And then, if you must have seen the trailer, we had a lot of serious and intense

04:12scenes. But because he had a terrific sense of humour, the atmosphere on set was very

04:16light and happy.

04:17I just had a couple of scenes with him. And I'm the kind of actor who tries to, you know,

04:21psych myself out. I have my headphones, I'm listening to some, you know, the music for

04:24the mood of the scene. So he comes and he's, what the hell are you doing? And I was so

04:28taken aback, you know, Om Puri Sahib coming on set and throwing away my earphones. Like,

04:32I'm like, sir, I'm preparing. He's like, no, understand the power of now. You have to be

04:37in here. You have to listen to me. You have to react to me. As an actor, we're told to

04:41listen, right? But, you know, when you're in front of the camera, it's a big film, you

04:44get self-absorbed. You're like, I'm going to do this. I'm going to move my hands this

04:47way. He's like, no, no, no. All that is nonsense. You're working in isolation. You just work

04:51with me. Let the magic happen.

04:54I think it enables you to ask that question to start with. It makes for a conversation.

05:02It's a word that people are intrigued by. It's a vernacular word or a phrase, I would

05:06say. It's not a word that you use in day-to-day language and we're hoping that after this

05:11people would. It's a word that, in my mind, getting a little bit philosophical here, it's

05:18a mindset. I don't think lastam-pastam has one meaning to it. I feel that when people

05:23start to watch a film like this, when people start to see relationships in a different

05:27way, they'll start to find their own lastam-pastam way to do things.

05:31The reason he's given behind the title, I mean, I'd like to tell you that he says it's

05:35a phenomena. And whenever he says lastam-pastam in the same sentence, he says anything for

05:39my brother. So pretty much he says it's an emotion. You can't articulate it. You'll have

05:43to watch the film. Let the film talk to you. Let the film touch you. And then you come

05:47out with your perception of that emotion.

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