MUMBAI: Rajat Barmecha who played the repressed son in Udaan is all set to come together again with his on-screen pal Manjot Singh in debutant director Sajit Warrier’s ‘Disco Valley’. This would be the third film where Rajat and Manjot would play buddies. Earlier this year they were seen together in Akshay Roy’s short film ‘The Finish Line’ which won a National award. Interestingly Manjot, of Dibakar Bannerjee’s ‘Oye Lucky Lucky Oye’ fame, was never supposed to be part of ‘Disco Valley’. He stepped in only when Vivaan Shah who was supposed to play Bharmecha’s buddy opted out of the project suddenly .
The rather unhappy producer Siddharth Jain said, “Yes it was supposed to Rajat with Vivaan. But Vivaan suddenly opted out because his dates were clashing with another film ‘Mastaan’. Which would have been okay were it not for the way I was informed about his exit from my project.” Vishal Bhardwaj’s staff who takes care of Vivaan’s work informed Jain of Vivaan’s depature. Adds Jain, “This isn’t the way to do it. Luckily for me Manjot is a far more suitable actor for the part. The role seems written for Manjot. If Vivaan had played the part we’d have had to change the character’s appearance and personality. Manjot just fits in like a glove. It’s the role of wide-eyed boy from Delhi who sets off for a jaunt in Fiji with his friends played by Rajat Barmecha and Shazahn Padamsee, thinking it’s about fast cars fast girls and fast sex. It will do for the three actors what ‘Hangover’ did for its principal players. Vivaan needs to do young films that will connect him with the audience between the ages of 14 and 19.”
Rajat Barmecha seems excited about coming together with his Udaan co-star again. “Manjot and I get along really well. So playing buddies with him is easy.We’ve worked together twice before and each time it’s been joyride. We’re good friends in real life and that always helps.”
In the meanwhile, Vivaan Shah who’s very much Vishal Bharadwaj’s blue-eyed boy is still waiting for that big break which was promised to him by Bharadwaj after ‘Saat Khoon Maaf’. Says Vivaan, “I am still waiting to find out when that film (with Vishal Bhardwaj) would happen. Hopefully it will happen.I haven’t been told anything as he’s busy right now.”
