Only four hours of daylight and a constant fear of avalanches were not enough to put off director Vikash Verma from embarking on an ambitious debut project. Helming the first Indo-Polish co-production, “No Means No”, Verma recalls the many challenges he faced, “We had to wake up at 4 am and head to the mountains, which was another obstacle, as most of the time it wasn’t safe to fly in the helicopter due to the severe cold, snow and windy conditions. At a temperature of -31 degrees it was almost unliveable, even after wearing five jackets.” The film will be released in cinemas on March 22.
While the film boasts a host of Polish actors, it also has the proverbial Bollywood ‘Bad Man’ Gulshan Grover, besides Sharad Kapoor, Deep Raj Rana, Nazia Hassan and Verma’s son, Dhruv, who plays the lead. The filmmaker gives credit to Grover for guiding him at different points of filming. In fact, he is all praise for the actor’s ability to weather the harsh climatic conditions. “While most of us would be shivering and cursing due to the extreme weather, Grover went on as if it was a normal day for him,” he says. Though the Indian cast and crew faced quite a few hurdles due to the weather and language, Verma stresses that Poland should be on the bucket list of every traveller. “It’s like a fairyland—almost like the Disney movies one has seen. We shot in ethereal places such as the snow-clad Polish mountains and the town of Bielsko-Biala,” he says.
Even before his debut hits the screens, Verma is busy with his next film. The Good Maharaja is based on Digvijaysinhji Ranjitsinhji Jadeja (1895-1966), the Maharaja Jam Sahib of Nawanagar, Gujarat. It stars Sanjay Dutt in the lead. Funnily enough, this film too has a Polish connection. The Maharaja had saved 1,000 Polish kids by giving them refuge during World War II. One of these children also went on to become the Prime Minister of Poland. A statue of the Maharaja has been installed by the Polish government and he also has a road named after him. “We have already shot a few portions of the film but in the meantime we decided to go ahead with “No Means No”. The cost of the film is very high as we will have to re-create the era of World War II. We will be using a lot of VFX,” says the filmmaker, who was dragged to court as the family of the Maharaja protested against the film. But things are looking up, he says, adding, “The court has given us a go-ahead. We will resume shooting after the release of “No Means No”.”
Verma himself has quite an interesting past that makes for good storytelling. Before he ventured into filmmaking, he ran a security agency. From Hollywood star Steven Seagal, former President Bill Clinton, singer Ricky Martin, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates to former Bihar Chief minister Lalu Prasad Yadav, and actors Suniel Shetty and Vinod Khanna, he has protected many A-listers. In fact, his specialisation is kidnap recovery and negotiation. Now, if that doesn’t make for a filmmaker with an out-of-the-box story to share, what will?