According to sources engaged on Dibakar Banerjee's Shanghai, inside the shooting of the film, an intense competition was on between its two leading men Abhay Deol and Emraan Hashmi. Hashmi has reportedly placed on weight and grown a paunch to fit his character of a Rajput tapori well.
Not to be outdone, Deol is leaving nothing to chance to outperform Hashmi. To get the diction of a Tamilian character right, Deol, who plays the role of an IAS officer from Tamil Nadu, summoned a diction coach to assist him out inside the shoot.
Last week, Deol reportedly rang up the director late at night requesting that they sit and watch all the unedited film, in order that he could further work on his dubbing. A UNIQUE screening was arranged, and the young actor was reportedly upset about his diction in a lot of scenes.
When contacted, Banerjee said, "Abhay caught himself faking the accent at several points. For example, Abhay pronunciation of 'branch' gave the impression of 'crunch', when it'll have appeared like 'ranch'. Abhay corrected that, and plenty of other such mistakes, within the re-dubbing."
Prior to the shooting, both Dibakar and Deol had met IAS officers from Tamil Nadu posted in North India to get the accent and character correct. Consistent with a source, regardless of the preparation, Deol was not satisfied, mainly as a result of Hashmi factor.
The director added, "ONCE WE sat down (for the special screening), Deol took notes and talked about areas where he thought he had goofed up along with his accent. The diction coach also sat with Deol for the re- dubbing."
Asked if a contest is build up between the 2 leads, Banerjee said, "I got the most productive out of both my actors. If it has got to do with a way of competitiveness, then it is a very healthy competition."
Courtesy: Mid-Day.com
