Lafangey Parindey: Music Review

He's a crazy fighter cum biker. She's a blind dancer on roller skates. Lafangey Parindey is a maverick romance between One Shot Nandu and Pinky Palkar.

Starring Neil Nitin Mukesh [ Images ] and Deepika Padukone [ Images ], Lafangey Parindey is a distinct departure for director Pradeep Sarkar [ Images ] who previously helmed woman-centric melodramas like Parineeta [ Images ] and Laaga Chunari Mein Daag.

For his latest under the Yash Raj banner, he replaces regular composer Shantanu Moitra [ Images ] with R Anandh, best remembered for his dazzling albeit underrated work (Main kudi anjaani, Tere pyaar mein) in Sunny Deol-led action flick, Zor. He also ropes in Swanand Kirkire, high on 3 Idiots and Striker to whip magic with his pen.

The soundtrack begins on a high-strung note with Ronit Sarkar throwing in a good measure of attitude and aggression, which bears striking resemblance to A R Rahman's [ Images ] high-pitched crooning, for the definitive title track. While Lafangey parindey (watch video) is unmistakably rock in genre, there's an attempt to bring in a sense of desi with a balle-balleish sprinkling every now and then.

Anandh weaves lilting, quirky enchantment to Kirkire's poetic apparitions for the instantly appealing Man lafangey (watch video). Mellow is Mohit Chauhan's [ Images ] gift. And he employs it to stirring effect with his soothing rendition of a song amused with the waywardness of love but sane enough to overlook the drawbacks. A racy club mix follows but we'll go with the original any day.

Animated bonhomie marks the soul of Dhatad tatad. High on rhythmic verbatim and bombastic philosophy, this manic merger of street-style percussion and sleek rock guitar is, thankfully, not all noise. Anandh's adept arrangement bolstered by Shail Hada and Anushka [ Images ] Manchanda's buoyant vocals ensures Dhatad brings the house down.

There's a great deal of introspection and description in the songs of this enterprise. And so the unbound temperament of Lafangey Parindey's leading characters is conveyed through Shilpa Rao's ethereal delivery of Nain parindey. If you loved Wake Up Sid's [ Images ] Iktaara, you're bound to fall for Nain parindey just as hard. Divine, dulcet and contemplative, Nain is quite easily the simplest and best offering of this album.

After wowing us with his powerful treble in Sadka (I Hate Luv Storys [ Images ]), Surag Jagan aims to impress Rang daalein. Despite all his intense efforts, the composition with its overtly stylized, synthesized layout tries too hard to be deadly and edgy.

While one cannot deny the influence of Hollywood composers in the instrumental theme, Born to fly, Anand keeps it a compelling a mix of drama and emotion to complain.

From glassy moments to grungy fervour, Lafangey Parindey is irresistibly whimsical.

source: movies.rediff.com

I am like ‘Lafangey Parindey’ heroine: Deepika

Mumbai, July 22 – Lead actors playing visually challenged characters is not new, but for Deepika Padukone it was a first. She describes it as her toughest role yet but also says she is exactly like the heroine – a woman who is self-confident, ambitious and never gives up.

‘For me, this role out of all the films that I have done was the most challenging. It’s not been easy. It required a lot of focus and concentration. I had to observe a lot of blind people before I could play this role,’ Deepika, 24, told IANS in an interview.

‘I think I identify with the character Pinky a lot because Pinky is someone who is extremely self-assured. She is extremely confident, knows exactly what she wants. She is ambitious and she never gives up, which is exactly how I am,’ she said.

This time director Pradeep Sarkar has teamed up with Deepika Neil Nitin Mukesh and a bunch of other actors to narrate the story of a group of youngsters living in the back streets of Mumbai. Releasing Aug 20, it will see Neil playing a boxer who fights blindfolded, while Deepika will be seen as a visually challenged girl who can dance on skates.

‘The biggest challenge was to pretend that I was not seeing. There were no supporting tools like black goggles or a stick with me to make it obvious that I am blind.

‘For example, we friends are sitting together and discussing something and one of them says, ‘arre dekh na’ and then realises I can’t see. Or he removes a glass a bit aside spontaneously not realising I couldn’t see that…So everyone had to focus and give a lot of attention all the time while shooting the film,’ said Deepika.

The actress along with other cast and crew spent time with visually challenged people to understand their behavioural nuances and figure out counter actions.

‘It took around six months of reading and interacting. Lots of physical movements I had to get use to. It’s like feeling things around you without actually being able to see them.

‘We didn’t visit any blind school, but all of us met a lot of blind people… it was not just for me but also very important for Neil and the group of friends I am interacting with in the film, even for ‘dada’ (Sarkar) to see how it is to interact with the blind. So I think it was a group process for all of us,’ she said.

Deepika says she didn’t find it nerve-wracking to do the implausible stunts.

‘As I have been an athlete and a sportsperson before, I think it just makes it much easier and interesting for me. I think to be able to do stunts, you need to be physically fit. It needs a lot of dedication, it needs a lot of control on the kind of food you are eating. So it was a lot of discipline,’ said Deepika.

It’s her zeal for sports that gave her the courage to train in scuba diving and sky diving.

‘The skating is something I had to learn for the film, but the scuba diving and this sky diving is something I have done for myself. It’s always nice to challenge your limits. I always thought that I was scared of heights until I jumped off a plane. Today when I fly in a plane and look outside, it doesn’t feel like anything,’ said Deepika.

After ‘Lafangey Parindey’, Deepika has two films – ‘Khelein Hum Jee Jaan Sey’ and ‘Break Ke Baad’ – in queue for release this year.

The actress doesn’t get bogged down by work pressure; neither does she get jittery by audience expectation.

‘I don’t consider it as work pressure, as I enjoy doing it. But I feel very relaxed when I spend my time alone at home after I pack up every day or I speak to my parents and spend time with them.

‘I don’t expect people to expect anything. I know I have given it my best.

I obviously hope the best for every film,’ said Deepika.

Source: realbollywood.com/IANS

Neil’s a ‘chikna’, Deepika’s a ‘ghat’?

Pradeep Sarkar’s forthcoming Yash Raj film ‘Lafangey Parindey’ is looking pretty interesting, considering the rapport between its lead pair Neil Mukesh and Deepika Padukone.

The actors who play Pinky Palkar and Nandan Kamatkar, Maharashtrian characters in the film have taken great liking for each other, thanks to the film.

“I was initially apprehensive about Neil playing the role of one shot Nandu aka Nandan Kamatkar in the film as it required a manly rugged actor and Neil is so chikna!” revealed Deepika with a smile. She further added, “Neil is extremely fair, so chikna and good looking and its amazing the way he has moulded himself in this Mumbaiyya character.”

Neil on the other hand revealed how Deepika is ideal to play Pinky Palkar! “Deepika is actually a ghat in real life too. This glamour is all for the camera” said Neil with a wink. He further added, “Deepika is half Konkani, has a Marathi maid and so found it easier to speak the language while I struggled a bit since I am a Punjabi.”

Lets hope the ghat-chikna combo works at the box-office! Bole toh.. Ekdum hit!

Source: indiatimesmovies

Bold & Beautiful

You don’t have to show your cleavage, cover up now,” Deepika Padukone mock-scolds Neil Nitin Mukesh, her co-star in Lafangey Parindey and now “friend”, as he tugs at his unbuttoned collar upon hearing her applaud his work in the film. The easy banter sets the tone of the conversation. The camaraderie is evident and one hopes it translates into chemistry on-screen when the film releases early next month.

The movie, as the name suggests, explores the story of two people who belong to the underbelly of Mumbai. While Mukesh plays ruffian One Shot Nandu, who can pummel his opponents in the ring blindfolded, Padukone plays the blind Pinky Palkar, who can dance with roller skates. Despite all odds stacked against them, the two hope to make it big in life one day. “The word lafanga isn’t one with negative connotations; it simply refers to people who want to break away from routine life to do something different,” explains Padukone.

The promos have created a buzz as Mukesh promises to return with the spunk he had displayed in his debut Johnny Gaddar and Padukone deviates from the young urban characters that she has mostly played to date. “It was extremely challenging to pretend to be blind, keeping your eyes focussed as if staring in space when I could actually see all along,” the young actress asserts.

What helped, she says, is rehearsing scenes blindfolded and then re-rehearsing them with eyes open to compare performances. “And we also tried to make it spontaneous,” adds her co-star, “If there was a scene where she was to grab hold of a glass placed on a table, we would shift it a bit when she wasn’t looking so that her grapple to locate it looked real.”

If playing a visually impaired girl was the leggy actress’ challenge, Mukesh had to train in boxing and performing bike stunts. “I didn’t even know how to ride a bike till two years ago,” he exclaims. Like most children, he too was prohibited from taking to the crowded Mumbai roads on two wheels. “Though I took naturally to riding a bike, much credit goes to the action director Shyam Kaushal who trained us to perform the stunts safely.” Today, he owns a Yamaha R1, one of the fanciest sports bikes.

Upon examining the many posters of the upcoming film, one realises that Mumbai plays the third crucial character in Lafangay Parindey. “In the first five minutes of the film, you’ll be transported into a very different world—though familiar, it’s a world most of us subconsciously block out,” says Padukone. Mukesh, however, admits that unlike the actress who is from Bangalore, he grew up watching this aspect of Mumbai. “There’s a wadi in my house’s lane and I’ve seen that world because the inhabitants are people who visit my house every year for the Ganpati festival. Yet, it took me months to prepare for this role—learning their dialect of Hindi, the pronunciations or simply understanding where their sense of bravado, which we witness in the streets and on the train roofs, stems from.”

As Padukone admits that much of her sense of bearing for Pinky’s character came from Mukesh’s inputs, she reveals how the actor filled in for the make-up man one day, the action choreographer on another and an assistant on the third. “One day the make-up man didn’t turn up on the sets and I was left stranded.

Though the character requires a minimal look, one has to use basic make-up. I was scared when Neil offered to help but I gave in eventually and wasn’t let down,” she says. “He was there throughout and I’ve made a friend for life.” In an industry where relationships are often fickle, one wonders if Padukone—who got a taste of it herself when Ranbir Kapoor parted ways with her early this year—means what she says. To this, Mukesh jumps to her rescue as he jokes, “Why are you putting the doubt in her head?”

Source: indianexpress

Neil becomes Deepika's make up man

Working together in director Pradeep Sarkar’s forthcoming film Lafange Parindey, actress
Deepika Padukone has found a friend for life in Neil Nitin Mukesh.

Neil once went out of his way to do her make-up personally, which was somewhat different, required for an accident scene.

"I think I have made a friend for life and I think that's what I cherished the most because he is a wonderful human being and that comes across on screen. We got along really well," said Deepika.

"There is an accident scene, where I need a different kind of make-up and he is trained in it so he told dada (Pradeep Sarkar) that he will do my make-up and he did. Another day where I was doing, not exactly an action sequence, but lot of cable work involved, he choreographed the entire act. So I think in every way he was there for me," Deepika said in an interview.

Set in the mean streets of Mumbai, Lafangey Parindey is a love story where Neil Nitin Mukesh plays the character of Nandu. He is a fighter who pummels his opponents in the ring and Deepika Padukone plays Pinky Palkar, a dancer who is blind but ambitious and dances with roller skates on her feet.

He teaches her to see and she teaches him how to love.

Neil used to be around Deepika, even on his off days. "I can confidently say that he has been the most supportive and encouraging co-star, with whom I have worked so far. Even on days when he was not required, he would be there," said Deepika.

Deepika believes that regardless of his experience in the industry, Neil has every quality of being a director.

"I think he is ready to direct. We keep thinking that he is new, we saw him in three-four films, but I think in terms of experience and his knowledge where cinema
is concerned, I think he is technically very sound and he is ready to direct a film," said Deepika.


source: movies.ndtv.com

‘I picked up the broom and showed Deepika how to really beat the boys’

Pradeep Sarkar’s debut film, Parineeta, was set in the 1960s. The next one, Laaga Chunari Mein Daag, flash backed to the ’80s. Lafangey Parindey, that opens on August 20, is about today’s biker boys who you see zipping through the city streets with dreams in their eyes.

“Earlier, films viewed them through our eyes. My film is from their eyes,” says the director, who having grown close to these cool dudes closely, describes them as “soft, shy, intelligent boys who want to fly like the birds”. He points out that he is a forever young 50 year old who became one of them: “My son’s the same age and being around them, I became 18 too. I sang with them, danced with them, only I didn’t ride a bike.”

How does a chikna (suave) SoBo boy, Neil Nitin Mukesh, fit into this world? “Neil is a No 1 lafanga (rogue) who can teach you a thing or two,” laughs Dada, as he is fondly known. “After a couple of rehearsals, I was learning about One-Shot Nandu from him. He’s a biker too.”

Like Neil, he insists, Deepika Padukone too is a perfect Pinky because she is a born winner. “Nothing will ever stop her. I’d done a few ads with her before and saw her as a glam girl. But when we started work on this movie, I was delighted to discover a new, carefree side to her. She’s one of the boys,” he says.

But isn’t Pinky blind? “She is,” he nods. “But as I discovered after meeting some blind people, the loss of sight sharpens their other senses. And half the time, you can’t tell that they don’t see you. Deepika internalised the blindness and before a take would often ask, ‘Dada, is the look right?’”

He recalls a scene in the film where the actress is required to hit Neil and his friends with a broom and then throw a pail of water on them. Deepika was doing the shot too politely despite Sarkar’s urgings, “Pinky, unhe maar ke bhagao (Pinky, beat them up and turn them out).”

Finally, exasperated, Sarkar picked up the broom himself and soundly whacked the boys.
As they stood, holding their bruised butts, the actress burst out laughing and in the next shot, she got the beating just right.

The boys are like wild birds in flight, Sarkar pronounces, and says that the title came to him in the third line of the first set of lyrics Swanand Kirke wrote for him.

And did Aditya Chopra allow him enough creative freedom? Buzz is that he reshot major parts of Laaga Chunari Mein Daag, resulting in the release being pushed forward.

“The film took its time because we had to shoot in different places, from Varanasi to Switzerland. Lafagey Parindey was filmed on sets and we kept to our schedule. As far as interference goes, I’m from the ad world and I like to have sounding boards around me. So whether it was Vinod Chopra or Adi, I welcome suggestions.” Touché!

Source : www.hindustantimes.com

Neil risks all on bike for Lafangey Parindey

Last October, Neil Nitin Mukesh was driving down Marine Drive when he was spotted by an excited fan on a bike who screamed out his name. He started driving in circles around Neil’s Audi Q7. The actor waved to him and told him to drive safely.

The biker boy zoomed past, then, as Neil was waiting at a red light, caught and attempted a quick spin on his hot wheels. He lost control and the bike skidded straight into Neil’s precious car,denting it badly.

Recalling the incident, Neil remembers how frustrated he felt watching someone risk his life to prove his machismo.“It was a stupid thing to do,” says the star,who was back on Marine Drive the next evening in his car.“These things happen, thank God no one was hurt.” Nine months later,you see Neil pulling the same stunt in the promos of the soon-to-release Yashraj film, Lafangey Parindey. He admits that his character, One-shot Nandu, has the same free spirit and careless daredevilry of that biker boy. And to play this ‘sadak chaap’Rambo convincingly,it’sNeil and not his double,who you see dirty fighting in the ring or balancing atop a bike.

Death-defying stunts The actor admits that he was covered in bruises for a major part of the shoot but insists that before he attempted the death defying action sequences, he was properly trained by action director Sham Kaushal. Kaushal had earlier thrown him off the 18th floor of abuilding in Aa Dekhen Zara and pushed him into a busy street in front of speeding cars in New York.

“We took all precautions but even then, I knew that an accident could happen anytime because the bike is just a machine” Neil points out. The mishap occurred when he was imitating Leonardo DiCaprio’s Titanic-like pose atop a speeding bike with another bike racing parallel.
“My bike went over a manhole we hadn’t seen and I lost my balance. Fortunately,I quickly managed to jump back on and wasn’t seriously hurt.

But it was a heart-stopping moment. And I would advise young boys not to try these stunts that have been professionally executed for your entertainment alone.” Neil’s actor,Deepika Padukone,has also done her share of action in the film.

He’s all praise for her: “She has a dancer’s flexible body, a strong mind and plenty of will power.Hats off to this gutsy girl who will take you by surprise!”

Source: HT Cafe/Hindustan Times