‘Pyaar Koi Khel Nahin’ fame director Subhash Sehgal returns to direction with ‘Yaara Silly Silly’, a title inspired from Lata Mangeshkar’s song ‘Yaara Sili Sili’ from Gulzar’s ‘Lekin…’.
Subhash Sehgal stated that initially they were unhappy with the working title of the film. He felt a catchy title was essential for viewers to be drawn to the film and the inspiration came from Gulzar’s film ‘Lekin…’ which was edited by Sehgal. “I have the habit of listening to music before sleeping and I chanced upon this song ‘Yaara Sili Sili’ from ‘Lekin…’ which was produced by Lataji. And that’s when it struck me that this could be a great title. And then we replaced ‘Sili Sili’ with the English ‘Silly Silly’. I’ve received a tremendous response for my choice of title.â€
Sehgal was the editor on Gulzar’s films ‘Ijaazat’ and ‘Lekin…’ and his television serial ‘Mirza Ghalib’. He has won numerous awards for his illustrious works. He had also produced a serial ‘Ek Kahani Aur Mili’ which was written by Gulzar. He said that their bonding was so good that Gulzar even wrote the title track of it for free.
“With Gulzar Sahab, my equation is on a different level. My association with him has been very deep, familial and personal. Professional associations happen everywhere but I’m very fortunate to be one of those people who had been very close to him. He makes you at ease. It almost felt as if you were making films while at home. His style is completely different,†said Sehgal.
Sehgal got the script of the film through a writer on Facebook. He loved the writer’s script till the interval point and told him to rewrite the script in such a way that the film ends at this interval point. He obliged and rewrote the script, which impressed Sehgal, who locked the script.
“The film is a relationship film. To sum it up in one line, I would say it a love story born in bed. By bed what I mean is that the central character is a prostitute which is being played by Paoli Dam. The genre that it portrays is that of a mature relationship,†he said.
Sehgal claims that several top actresses loved the script when he approached them but they couldn’t do it due to lack of availability of dates. He would’ve had to wait for 2-3 years to get their dates, which was unacceptable for him and that’s when he decided to begin immediately.
“Meanwhile, I happened to see ‘Hate Story’ of Paoli Dam and I spotted the character in Paoli who would be able to justify this role. I approached her with the script, which she loved and said that she would love to do the film. When I asked about her terms and conditions, she said, ‘dates are yours and money is yours, even if you give me one rupee I’ll do the film and for whichever dates you would prefer’. And subsequently she was signed,†said Sehgal.
Paoli Dam is paired opposite Parambrata Chatterjee in the film.
‘Yaara Silly Silly’ directed by Subhash Sehgal is jointly Produced by Reena Bhushan Suri & Neena Subhash Sehgal under the banner ‘Movee Dreems’.
The film is slated to release on 30th October.