Vivek Oberoi, Rani Mukerji starrer ‘Saathiya’ is completing 22 years on December 20. The film remains a huge memory in the hearts of many – right from its moments to the chemistry between the lead pair and AR Rahman’s music – all of it is now a cult. In an exclusive chat with ETimes, Vivek Oberoi opens up on the memories of the movie and says he was just not ready to do the film at first. He says that many thought it was a huge mistake indeed.
Vivek said, “I was shooting for ‘Company’ and Shadu (Director Shaad Ali) was my childhood friend. The place where you’re sitting, bang opposite that is Shaad’s house and that’s where I had come to meet him. He asked me to watch this film and I told him I can’t. I’m focusing on my first film, it’s a gangster’s role and suddenly how do I watch this movie which is a college boy running behind a girl and a love story. Still, he said, ‘just watch this film’.”
The actor further recalled, “He played the movie for me in Tamil, ‘Alai Payuthey’ – Mani Ratnam’s brilliance, Maddy (R Madhavan) and Shalini, insane chemistry. I watched the movie and I chocked. I had tears coming out of my eyes. I told him, ‘you knew when I watch this movie, the actor in me will want to do it.’ So, I told him, I’ll do it, I’ll figure out a way.”
In those days, ‘Company’ was a huge film mounted on a huge budget. Vivek said he had to take permission from many people to sign ‘Saathiya’. “Just like shadi se pehle permission leni padti hai, I had to take permission. People told me, no way! You’re being launched like a film like ‘Company’, because it was a huge set-up and ‘Saathiya’ was a small film. People thought, ‘Saathiya’ was just a mistake I’m making. The buzz around ‘Company’ was so big that I had the big production houses ready to sign me for the next ‘action’ movie. Suddenly they heard about me doing this small little film called ‘Saathiya’ with a new director. And the film just became what it did,” says Vivek with a smile.
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