00:00The way you do it in Hollywood, you have a different accent.
00:07You do English films in London, you have a different accent.
00:10And the way you speak Urdu and Hindustani here, how do you maintain it?
00:14Huzoor, it's not about maintaining it.
00:16One should be flexible in that.
00:18First of all, when Sai Paranjpe called me,
00:20let me tell you this story.
00:22It was a big deal.
00:24It was a weekend.
00:26As you know, my wife is a casting director.
00:28Her name was Jennifer Jaffrey.
00:30So the English people are very particular in this matter.
00:38If the mother-in-law and father-in-law have called me for lunch,
00:44if they have called me at 1 o'clock,
00:46even if it's an hour's drive,
00:48I will reach by 1 o'clock.
00:50So it was a Saturday and we were going to Cambridge for the weekend.
00:53From London.
00:55Now there was a telephone call.
00:57Gul Anand Sahab said,
00:59Saeed Sahab, my name is Gul Anand.
01:03You have met my director Sai Paranjpe.
01:07I said, yes I have.
01:09So I will talk to you.
01:11I will cut it short.
01:13The phone got cut short.
01:15The phone got cut short.
01:17My wife said, come on, who is this?
01:21I said, somebody is calling from Bombay.
01:23Wait.
01:25After 10 minutes.
01:27Saeed Sahab, we are doing a film called Chashme Badoor.
01:31There is a college romance in it.
01:33There are three boys and a girl.
01:35There is a character in it.
01:37I will cut it short.
01:39The phone got cut short.
01:41My wife said, come on, who is this person?
01:45I said, look, give him a chance.
01:47After 10 minutes,
01:51after 10 minutes,
01:53I heard Gul Anand Sahab's voice.
01:55I said, don't cut it short.
01:57You can speak as long as you want.
01:59He said,
02:01we are making a film.
02:05Sai Paranjpe will direct it.
02:07There is a role of a paanwala in it.
02:11There is a paanwala in every university,
02:13in every college.
02:15People borrow money from him.
02:17They smoke, eat paan, etc.
02:19I said, will you send the script?
02:23Sai Sahab said,
02:25there is no time to send the script.
02:27I said, okay,
02:29but the central role is good.
02:31After that,
02:33he said,
02:35we don't have much money.
02:37If you are coming for Gandhi,
02:39then request him
02:41to send it a month or two earlier.
02:43I talked to the director.
02:45I said, it is a small film.
02:47He said, send it a month or two earlier.
02:49He doesn't have much money.
02:51Anyway, he came.
02:53Now,
02:55the most important thing
02:57about Chhatran Ke Khiladi
02:59was that
03:01Urdu was spoken by him
03:03from 1817.
03:05So,
03:07we kept a watch on it.
03:09We used to write and broadcast
03:11BBC's Urdu and Hindi services.
03:13Alice in Wonderland,
03:15Great Masterpieces of English Literature,
03:17etc.
03:19Wajid Ali Shah's letters
03:21to his wife,
03:23I had published all of them.
03:25And some of them,
03:27like Satyajit Ray,
03:29had listened to them.
03:31So, in that, that Urdu,
03:33people were thinking
03:35that,
03:37Mirza Sahab,
03:39what will you do?
03:41He will say something like this.
03:43In the same way,
03:45in Chashm-e-Baddur,
03:47when they said that it will be shot in Delhi,
03:49I came.
03:51I read the script.
03:53So, in that,
03:55the panwala,
03:57the brother panwala,
03:59he said,
04:01I am the panwala.
04:03So, I said, no,
04:05this won't do.
04:07This is a cliché.
04:09People have heard it.
04:11He is the panwala.
04:13Something like that.
04:15I said, no, you come with me.
04:17So, I took Gul Anand,
04:19Sai Paranjpe,
04:21and his cameraman.
04:23I said, we will go to old Delhi,
04:25Jama Masjid.
04:27It is 20 years old.
04:29Maybe, those places are there.
04:31There was a bundu khan panwala.
04:33We went to the bundu khan panwala.
04:35We said, brother,
04:37where is bundu khan sahab?
04:39He died.
04:41He died. I am alive.
04:45I looked at Sai and said,
04:47this panwala will speak like this.
04:49He will speak
04:51the cockney
04:53of old Delhi.
04:55Karkhandari.
04:57We went ahead.
04:59We took a kurta,
05:01a cap, and a tamarind.
05:03He will look like this.
05:05This is how the panwala will look.
05:07Because,
05:09in the west,
05:11when a character develops,
05:13you have to think like this.
05:15Where is he from?
05:17Is he English?
05:19Is he from Gorkha?
05:21He said, yes, very good.
05:23I said, what will be his name?
05:25I gave him 36 names.
05:27Bijan, Lallan, Laddan.
05:29Laddan, Bijan, etc.
05:31He said, Lallan.
05:33Everyone liked it.
05:35I will translate this script
05:37into the Karkhandari language
05:39here.
05:41Sai said,
05:43will you make it too long?
05:45I said, no, I will make it short.
05:47I am not used to footage.
05:49But it will not look real.
05:51This person, Lallan, lives in old Delhi.
05:53He has a wife, but no children.
05:55His shop is in Nizamuddin.
05:57So who are his children?
05:59Your college students.
06:01Your Farooq Sheikh, Ravi, Bhaswani, etc.
06:03When he was asked
06:05about his romance with Deepti Rawal,
06:07he said,
06:09why didn't you tell me?
06:11Take my cycle.
06:15If you can do this
06:17after living there for 20-25 years,
06:19then you have
06:21a contribution
06:23in Indian cinema.
06:25Sai sir,
06:27you were born in...
06:29Let me give you a Birmingham accent.
06:31Because your daughter-in-law is from Birmingham.
06:33So Birmingham has a special accent.
06:35It is not Cockney.
06:37Cockney is different.
06:47There is a sing-song in Birmingham.
06:49In Birmingham, they say,
06:57James, James, put it away,
06:59it's a bit broken.
07:01Look at this.
07:03Let me tell you about Scotland.
07:11It's a beautiful,
07:13moonlit night,
07:15and it's alright, you know.
07:19Like this.
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