Mumbai, Oct 18 The National Award-winning film ‘Khosla Ka Ghosla!’ re-released in theatres on Friday. The film, which has the highest repeat value in veteran actor Anupam Kher’s entire filmography of more than 200 films (as told by the actor to IANS earlier), is the brainchild of writer Jaideep Sahni. But, what makes the film such a cult?
The producers of the film Raaj and Savita Hiremath told IANS that their idea for the film was to turn it into a brand.
It’s quite fascinating because Raaj and Savita Hiremath, who come from an advertising background, and have in-depth knowledge of brand value and proposition, placed their bet on a story which was so simple, and did not have even an ounce of glamour that Bollywood back in the day was known for. Yet, it worked wonders owing to the thought of making it a brand that will cultivate a loyal fan following akin to a loyal customer base.
Savita told IANS, “When we sat on the story, because we understood products and brands and their value propositions very well, we were trying to create a brand as ‘Khosla Ka Ghosla!’. It was not a film. So, if we have to create a brand, what all should go in around that? One basic thing is, it has to entertain people. It has to be cost effective. It has to make money, and live longer”.
She further mentioned, “You are watching your family in the theatre and laughing at it. You are not laughing because the artistes in the film are doing double meaning jokes or they are doing anything of those lines. While watching the film, you laugh because something of that sort has happened to you”.
The humour of ‘Khosla Ka Ghosla’, directed by Dibakar Banerjee, finds its takers not just in India but also abroad.
Raaj told IANS, “We went to Cannes and we showcased the film in the initial stages. People were laughing and saying, ‘what is this?’”
“They were laughing in the scene where Mataji was just doing Namaste. At the face of it, Mataji doing namaste is not funny but people were rolling on the floor laughing. That’s the power of approaching it through the brand angle. You have set the tone in the narrative, now the audience will flow with the narrative”, he added.
The producers also revealed that the first half of the film is something which actually happened to its writer Jaideep Sahni, who is also known for other cult films like ‘Company’, ‘Bunty Aur Babli’, ‘Chak De! India’ and ‘Rocket Singh: Salesman of the Year’. Jaideep’s family too had a land which fell prey to a case of land grabbing.
The second half of the film was his desire to take revenge from the man who stole his family’s land.
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