Friday, May 6, 2011

The first 'item boy' of Bollywood

Taaha Shah, the first Bollywood hero to have done a full-fledged item song, speaks about his film 'Luv Ka The End'.

Taaha Shah, the latest entrant in Bollywood who makes his debut with Y-Films' Luv Ka The End this Friday, seems expectedly excited. Interestingly the actor had actually auditioned for a Karan Johar film but got lucky with a Yash Raj production. " Sab kismet ki baat hai ", smiles the actor. "When I came to Mumbai, I didn't know anybody. During last year's IPL, I had shot for a Puma ad and then I got a call from casting director Shanu. I was called for an audition for a Karan Johar film. Though that didn't work for me, later I was called again for the auditions of Luv Ka The End ."

So how did he impress the Chopras in the audition? "Adi sir (Aditya Chopra) and Yash Chopra liked the way I scratched my head. Main pagalon ki tarah khuja raha tha and they simply loved it", laughs Taaha.

He plays Luv Nanda in the film who cheats on his girlfriend. Taaha immediately comes to his character's defense. "Luv Nanda is not a compulsive flirt but his bigger motive in life is to find the hottest girl for himself. That's the reason he is never stable with his girlfriends".

The actor who gets beaten and bruised by his ex-girlfriend in the film, played by Shraddha Kapoor, admits that he used to be the butt of all jokes during the shoot. In fact Taaha Shah would be perhaps the first Bollywood hero to have done a full-fledged item song getting into the shoes... or rather ghagra choli... of the likes of Munni and Sheila. " Ghagra mein achchi hawa milti hain ", laughs the actor who is not embarrassed of his drag act. "I studied for six months in NYFA in Abu Dhabi, where I learnt that a good actor should not be scared of how he looks. If my character demands, I would not shy away from looking like a clown or even having a deformed face".

Taaha was not just bullied by his costars but also by director Bumpy. The actor remembers one such incident. "We were shooting in Lokhandwala for an early morning, 4 am schedule. The scene needed some girls to chase me. I suggested Bumpy to allow me to jump over a car for the sequence. While he was not much convinced, I insisted. So a crane shot was taken and Bumpy made me jump over the car for over six times. I was very excited about this particular scene, but when I watched the final version of the film, it was edited out", says the actor on how he was sweetly conned.

Ask him one thing that he learnt while shooting for the film and, while you would expect a reply like being faithful in love or something alike, Taaha says, "I learnt to ride a bike". We just wish Luv Ka The End helps him start his journey in Bollywood on a smooth note.

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