SUNDAY, JUNE 8, 2014 (PAGE-4) BOLLYWOOD BUZZ SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY "I will only do comedy films" End of the road for the amby? Sajid Khan is one creatively mad man. He will be Zafri Mudasser Nofil Hindustan Motors itself was set up as Its time-tested, tough, accommodating and practical the country’s first car market in 1942, introducing three sets of Saif Ali Khan, Riteish characteristics made the Ambassador a truly Indianised Deshmukh and Ram Kapoor in his upcoming car. Its dependability, spaciousness and comfort factor just a few years before Independence. made it the most preferred car for generations of Indians. film Humshakals. Sreya Basu chats up with the The first car to be manufactured in India, Ambassador minister Shahnawaz Hussain, film star-turned politician ruled the Indian roads ever since its inception in 1948. Shatrughan Sinha and party’s Darjeeling MP S S filmmaker in Mumbai Originally based on Morris Oxford (United Kingdom, Ahluwalia. Among Congress leaders, former Union minis- 1948), the car underwent a series of changes, adapting to ter Kamal Nath, as also at least two party candidates from What made you make a film on mad men? customer expectations. Delhi — J P Agarwal and Ramesh Kumar, had Ambas- I made Humshakals on mad people because at that time I myself went And now with Hindustan Motors Limited deciding to sador cars in their lists. mad. shut down its factory at Uttarpara in West Bengal, where Others with Ambassadors included J&K National Pan- Was it that maddening an experience? it has been making the Ambassador, it is feared that it will thers Party candidate from Udhampur Prof Bhim Singh, We have seen one actor's triple role before in films like John be the end of the road for the only automobile to ply on JD-U candidate from Jhanjharpur (Bihar) Davendra Jani Janardhan (1984) where Rajinikanth saab did a triple role. Indian roads for more than five decades now, carving a Prasad Yadav and RJD’s Karakat candidate Kanti Singh. Amitabh Bachchan saab did a triple role in Mahaan (1983). In special niche for itself in the passenger car segment in the Ambassador models produced all these years includ- Bairaag (1976) Dilip Kumar saab did a triple role. But three process. In 1948, CK Bir- actors having triple roles in the same film, sharing the same la Group firm Hindustan names, and that too living in the same city before screen- Motors Ltd began the pro- play makes them live in the same house … is something duction of the Ambas- that has never happened before. It took me quite some sador at Uttarpara in time to write the screenplay and I even had to visit a psy- Hooghly district. chiatric ward to get my tests done because it was becom- The company, howev- ing very confusing on how to balance it all, how to open er, is scouting for new the cards one by one in the second half and take the investors to revive the movie to a climax which even a 5-year-old will be able loss-making Uttarpara to understand easily. plant. Can we call this film as your comeback to comedy? With the resignation of I don't know about comeback as I never went any- Uttam Bose as managing where to be back. I was very much in Mumbai. It's not that director and chief execu- I went to live in a desert and I came back. But then, this is tive officer of HM in May, what people expect from a Sajid Khan film and I will never Moloy Chowdhury has ever disappoint them again. They want comedies from me been appointed as acting and I will only do comedy films. MD and CEO of the com- We mainly have three male and three female lead actors pany, which owns assets in the film. Who is paired opposite whom? at Uttarpara and Indore. We have Tamannaah (Bhatia) and Esha Gupta opposite two The company was pro- Saifs and Bipasha Basu opposite one Riteish. Ram Kapoor is ducing 700 to 800 Ambas- basically a character actor who is the bad guy, mad guy and sador cars per month a also the sad guy in the film. few years ago. But at Do you expect the film to cross Rs. 100-crore mark? present, production has Well, like everyone else, we too have worked very hard on this film. This is the first film in my seven-eight years fallen to low levels owing old career as a director that instead of putting on weight, I have lost many kilos. But eventually, the result remains to lack of funds. In April, the plant manufactured 100 cars. The plant has been fac- in the hands of God and the people. ed Mark 1 to IV series, Nova, 1800 1SZ, Avigo, Classic, ing losses to extent of Rs 7 to 8 crore per month. But you always talk figures before the release of your films. Grand and Encore. In the early 1990s, the old Austin- The brand considerably lost its edge on roads in 90s This time I will not talk about figures. But I will tell you what the best figure I have got. I was 108 kilos before designed BSeries OHV straight-4 BMC 1.5L petrol engine and the company has been trying hard in the past few was replaced in favour of an Isuzu 1.8 litre engine and making the film and I became 73 kilos by the time shooting was over. years to re-launch it to reclaim its lost glory though with- Are you nervous this time? became the fastest production car in India, beating Fiats, out much success. and the Maruti Suzuki cars at that time. The engines cur- I never get nervous, but I tend to get very anxious for audience reactions. It's something like an examination. Last year, the Ambassador was voted as the world’s rently available are the 1500 DSL (1.5L 37 bhp diesel You give the exam and wait for the results. You get nervous about passing only when you have not studied hard. best taxi by global automotive programme Top Gear. In a engine), 1800 ISZ (1.8 L 75 bhp MPFI petrol engine), 2000 But when you have worked hard, you get anxious about what grades you will pass out with. I know people will show, aired on the BBC, Top Gear’s executive director DSZ (2.0 L 50 bhp Isuzu diesel engine) and 2000 DSZ Tur- enjoy Humshakals as it is at my comedy best. But I am anxious to know how much will they like it. Richard Hammond organised a world taxi shootout in bo (2.0 L 75 bhp turbocharged intercooled Isuzu diesel Do you believe in giving messages through your films? which Ambassador emerged a winner, beating competi- engine. I only send messages through SMS. There are no messages in my films. But on second thoughts, if you are tors from all over the globe. In the late 1970s, a limited batch of Mark III Ambas- able to make a person forget his sorrows and make him smile with your film, then it is also a message of sorts. In “The winner was India’s virtually indestructible Hindus- sador cars were produced with 1,700 cc engines. They fact, it will be the best message for a filmmaker to give his audience. tan Ambassador,” UK-based motor museum Beaulieu, were fitted with Constant Velocity SU side-draft carbure- What if there is your humshakal out there? Would you like to meet him? where the ‘World of Top Gear’ featuring vehicles from tors of an earlier era instead of the more common indige- No, never. Let me tell you an incident here. One of my friends from the media started calling the film Sajid some of the most ambitious challenges are also show- nous variable velocity Solex down-draft units. The engine Khan's Humshakals. I told him please do not write that because I don't have a very good face. Instead write cased, said in a statement. blocks of these cars had “1700” etched on them instead Humshakals, a film by Sajid Khan. (TWF) This particular example proved just how enduring the of the usual “1500”. Ambassador really is when it saw off rivals from Britain, These were probably produced to handle the extra load America, Germany, South Africa, Mexico and Russia to be of the piston-driven air conditioner compressors available named the world’s best taxi, it added. HEALTHLINES in those days. The trim (metal beading) of these cars was “It’s (Ambassador) so tough that, although it now lives in World of Top Gear, with a quick wash and brush up, it a throwback to the sixties because they were chrome plat- could be back in service tomorrow probably,” the state- ed instead of aluminum. Blue Baby ment said. The car was briefly imported to the UK in 1993 (as the Till the arrival of the Maruti in the early 80s, the Ambas- Fullbore Mark 10).The cars were retrofitted with a heater Dr Vikas Kohli outlook of children with hole in heart is very good, irre- sador was the status symbol in India. Gradually it lost out and seat belts in order to comply with European safety leg- spective if it is closed by surgery or intervention. to various global competitors when it came to personal islation, but only a tiny number were ever sold, and the The commonest birth defect seen in infants and new- Many conditions now can be treated without surgery.