Less than two weeks away from its release, ‘Gajalu’ is undoubtedly one of the most anticipated upcoming Nepali films. And no, it’s not only the Anmol KC factor that makes it awaited but quite a lot of other factors as well. Miss Nepal 2012 Shristi Shrestha is to debut with this film and as we have already seen her rocking some music videos and her tremendous work in theatre play ‘Hamlet’, the expectations are quite very high with her. The film will also bring the ‘Hostel’ gang back. The much loved group of Anmol KC, Gaurav Pahari and Salon Basnet will be seen together after three years. Apart from these actors, Menuka Pradhan and debutant Ritik Shahi too will be seen playing important roles in the film. Not only the actors, but it’s the director Hemraj BC who has given us good cinemas like Hostel, Jerryy and Sambodhan; who makes the film worth a wait. With over half a million views on its trailer on YouTube, the film also excites us for it is most probably the only film to be based on a life of a ‘Kumari’, a living goddess.
We recently caught up with the new actor, Ritik Shahi, and talked about his experience of working in the film, his expectations and a lot of other things. The 24-year old who had auditioned for ‘Hostel’ couldn’t make it to that film, and was later approached for ‘Jerryy’. But as the role was not very satisfying, he decided to wait for a better opportunity. When the director Hemraj BC approached him again with quite a good role in ‘Gajalu’, he just couldn’t refuse it. The actor who has been seen in various commercials so far had to lose 12 kg of his weight for the role. He plays Lakshya, a rich guy who is good at nothing other than spending his father’s money. He says, “I feel honored to be part of this project and share the screen with all these amazing actors. I not only had a good time working on it but I learned a lot from all my seniors. The release date is just few days ahead and I feel excited and nervous at the same time. I am hopeful that our hard work will pay off.”
As we had Ritik, we took this opportunity to not only talk about the film but we had him reveal some of the not so known secrets of his team members. Find out what he shared with us about his co-stars and the film-makers.
Anmol KC: “He needs to have some chocolates before sleeping and can’t sleep without them.”
Shristi Shrestha: “She is quite a sleeper. Even if there’s a 5-minute break, she will take a quick nap. And funnily, she would dream about something in such a short sleep as well and would tell us about it.”
Menuka Pradhan: “Her laugh is so loud, you can literally hear it from a kilometer away. And also, she talks with almost everything, like with trees, stone, sun, moon or just anything. She is so funny.”
Salon Basnet: “He snores very loudly while sleeping.”
Gaurav Pahari: “His dance when he is drunk is the funnies thing on earth. And not to mention, his facial expressions. One doesn’t need to watch a comedy film when he’s drunk, he is that funny.”
Hemraj BC (Director): “He always needs a head massage while shooting. Another funny thing about him is that his cigarette packs are always well decorated as he would always cover the warning part of that lung cancer picture on it with a tape or something to hide it. So that he doesn’t feel bad while smoking.”
Rohit Adhikari (Producer): “One funny thing about him I always noticed on the sets is that he would come every morning and greet every person on the set individually and ask, “Ke chha bhai?” And if you listen to the tone in which he asks, you would die laughing. It used to sound so funny.”
We hope, like we really hope, his co-stars don’t try and kill him for revealing their habits in public. Jokes apart, the film is all set to release on June 10th. Apart from ‘Gajalu’, Ritik will also be seen in Nirmal Sharma directorial ‘Bracelet’ along with Ramesh Upreti, Rajani KC, Namrata Sapkota and Nir Shah.
Watch Gajalu trailer here.
