Throwback Thursday: Milap Zaveri reveals many shocking facts about ‘Marjaavaan’

In an exclusive interview with MidDay Online director Milap Zaveri walks the memory lane and shares with us many interesting and unknown facts about his hit film Marjaavaan which starred Sidharth Malhotra Riteish Deshmukh Tara Sutaria and Rakul Preet Singh in the lead rolesI almost did not direct lsquoMarjaavaanrsquo but destiny has its own waysThe journey of lsquoMarjaavaanrsquo is quite unique in itself I wrote the film after the failure of lsquoMastizaadersquo Honestly speaking I had very less work at that time I had gone to Nikhil Advanirsquos office and had met his sister Monisha When she heard the story she said that she was ready to offer me a signing amount for the film wherein I was to write ONLY the script But when I said that I also wanted to direct the film as well she said ldquoMilap I am sorry We are not going to make this film with you because your film has not worked at the box office Also it will be difficult for us to get actors for your film We cannot produce the filmrdquoHalf heartedly though I agreed to write the scriptSince I was in a bad state at that time I agreed to write the script We then started meeting various wellknown directors to direct the film but things were just not falling into place Around that time I managed to get lsquoSatyamev Jayatersquo running with John Abraham and Manoj Bajpayee sir And this led to what I call as lsquothe circle of lifersquo One fine day Monisha called me out of the blue and asked me to direct lsquoMarjaavaanrsquo This is what one would call as lsquomanifestationrsquoldquoI had always flopped with Riteish Deshmukh as a directorrdquoI have been friends with Riteish Deshmukh since many years and have done so many films as a writeractor jodi He had even starred as a leading man in my first film lsquoJaane Kahaan Se Aayi Hairsquo and had made a guest appearance in lsquoMastizaadersquo The sad part about it is that I had always flopped with him as a director But just like Murphyrsquos Law I became lsquolucky the third timersquo I directed Riteish the third time in lsquoMarjaavaanrsquo and managed to deliver a hit For me that was a personal milestoneAlso Read Vicky Kaushals dialogue from Uri gets Emergency twist from KanganaI made Sidharth Malhotra stand on top 60 feet Ravanrsquos effigyIn the climax of the film Sidharth was standing on top of the effigy of Ravan which was not less than around 60 feet The actual idea was to make him stand on top of a giant wheel But when the vendor came with the giant wheel it turned out to be a childrenrsquos giant wheel wherein Sidharth looked taller than the giant wheel itself laughs Thatrsquos when I struck upon an idea of making a Ravan effigy which measured around 60 feet in height Poor Sidharth was put up with the cables on the top for more than two hours When I was shooting this scene with drones I literally had my heart in my mouth seeing Sidharth standing there totally alert There was absolutely no room for carelessness or even an iota of mistake And when Sidharth and I went to theaters to check the public reaction the whole theatre exploded with seetis and claps during that climax scene And as far as Sidharth is concerned he was my lsquoAmitabh Bachchanrsquo in the film the true blue angry young manI was so happy when Tara lsquodiedrsquo that I started clappingI still remember the scene when we were shooting Tara Sutariarsquos death scene in the film The moment she performed her death scene I was so very overwhelmed with joy that I started clapping and smiling Seeing me clapping and smiling Tara jokingly told me ldquoMilap you are the first person who is so happy with someonersquos death scenerdquo laughsView this post on InstagramA post shared by TARA tarasutariaWe used to consider ourselves blessed and lucky to have got Rakulrsquos datesAs for Rakul I remember that I shot her climax scene over a period of over one month because of her packed schedules since she was so busy doing so many things The moment we used to get Rakulrsquos dates we used to consider ourselves blessed and lucky laughs All said and done I need to tell you that Rakul is an extremely professional actressView this post on InstagramA post shared by Rakul Singh rakulpreetRiteish was on his knees for almost eighty percent of the filmSince Riteish was playing a dwarf he was on his knees for almost eighty percent of the filmView this post on InstagramA post shared by Riteish Deshmukh riteishdI felt gratified to direct my best friend Shaad Randhawa in the filmThe film also gave me an opportunity to direct my best friend Shaad Randhawa who played the role of Mazhar in the film And when we went to GaietyGalaxy to check public reactions Shaad was mobbed by people who shouted lsquoMazharMazharrsquo I really felt so good to have directed my friend in the film and to see him get such immense appreciation for his role View this post on InstagramA post shared by Shaad Randhawa shaadrandhawaSidharth used to joke that I have converted England into BiharlsquoMarjaavaanrsquo turned out to be a huge hit all over especially in UP Bihar and also in UK To which Sidharth used to joke that I have converted England into Bihar All said and done I really want to say that I am extremely grateful to Bhushan Kumar ji and Emmay for believing in me and the filmPlay Quiz How well do you know Akshay Kumar