In the winter of 1998, Rensil D’Silva and I had written what we thought was a script. We titled it ‘Good vs Evil’. In any case, it was much...
In the winter of 1998, Rensil D’Silva and I had written what we thought was a script. We titled it ‘Good vs Evil’. In any case, it was much more than a TV commercial, because it was 25 pages long. One
evening I was hanging out with Abhishek at their home when Amit ji peeped in:
AB: Bye guys, I am off to Delhi.
Me: Please read this as in-flight entertainment.
He indulged me and took the 25 pages of ‘Good vs Evil’.
Unexpectedly, the phone rang at 11 p.m. The ensuing conversation has been described earlier in the book. Basically, Amit ji wanted to know what I had been drinking while writing the script. In his inimitable style, he agreed to be part of whatever I made out of ‘Good vs Evil’.
I felt a strange hollow in my stomach that grips someone when an impossible dream comes true. Now I had to mount a film that featured this towering titan of Indian cinema. Amit ji was to play Inspector Manu Varma, an honest law enforcement officer. His nemesis in the script was to be Raghavan, a ruthless killer whose dialogues were laced with spirituality. I had to cast Raghavan next: someone who could match...
