I wrote ‘Badmaash Company’ in frustration: Parmeet Sethi

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MUMBAI - Shahid Kapoor-starrer “Badmaash Company”, about four friends doing con jobs to become rich overnight, has got good reviews and viewers have enjoyed their capers but first time director Parmeet Sethi says he wrote the script of the film in frustration.

“The bell actually rang three years back when I was sure that I will direct a film. This is the second script that I have written,” Parmeet told IANS.

“Yash Raj Films (YRF) had approved my first script too, but we couldn’t make it. I waited for one and a half years, but the film didn’t take off and I was frustrated. I was in a dilemma whether to stick to my plans to direct a film or go back to acting. Then in frustration, I wrote this script,” he added.

“I had five ideas with me out of which two were most compelling. I wanted to write another script before this but that required research work in Canada, which would have taken six months. I didn’t have the money. I didn’t have the time. So I chose this one because I enjoy the genre very much. I think no one has done a full-on con film intelligently,” the actor-turned director said.

Set in the 1990s, “Badmaash Company” is about four young friends - Shahid, Anushka Sharma, Vir Das and Meiyang Chang - from middle-class Mumbai who get together to start a company. Their business is an instant hit because they find a way to beat the system by doing all the wrong things in a right way.

The critics have praised the film despite it being too long.

“First, I worked out the whole con thing in my head, then I put it down on paper as script and then wrote dialogues. There are four con jobs in the film and I had to come up with interesting ideas each time to make it as believable as possible,” said Parmeet.

To get the right feel of the 1990s, he shot some scenes in Hyderabad.

“The cars, the houses and other locations that we shot in Mumbai, I was particular about everything because I wanted to bring the essence of the 1990s. I actually went to Hyderabad to shoot the airport scene. Mumbai airport of today is very, very modern. But the Hyderabad airport still looks like the old Mumbai airport,” he said.

The director, who worked with freshers like Vir and Chang, says he signed Anushka Sharma on Aditya Chopra’s recommendation.

“I wanted some very fresh faces and Vir and Chang were the perfect choice. I didn’t want to have predictable faces. Anushka was Adi’s recommendation. I didn’t know her personally. I was a little doubtful, but Adi assured me that I’ll like her once we meet,” he said.

Parmeet, who featured in Aditya’s directorial debut “Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge” (1995), says he was sceptical while approaching YRF to produce the film.

“I spoke over phone and asked for an appointment with Adi and I got it. That’s all I did. In the last 15 years I hardly met Adi as he hardly socialises…everyone knows that. I was hoping he hadn’t forgotten me. But he not only gave me the appointment but gave me respect and was pleasantly surprised by my script,” he said.

Parmeet now wants to be behind the camera and make more films but doesn’t rule out the possibility of getting back to acting.

“I haven’t said good bye to anything. I don’t want to be cocky about life. But as of now it’s only direction for me. I think this is my main career now.”