'Chaalis Chauraasi' tells tale of a freaky night (IANS Preview)

Hriday Shetty's new 'Chaalis Chauraasi', described as a crime comedy, will bring on screen the happenings of a freaky night when it hits theatres Friday.

Produced by MAASK Entertainment Pvt. Ltd. in association with Filament Glo (India) Pvt. Ltd, the 'Chaalis Chauraasi' cast features veteran Naseeruddin Shah along with Kay Kay Menon, Atul Kulkarni and Bhojpuri superstar Ravi Kishan. In a surprise, the film doesn't have any female co-stars.

The entire plot of 'Chaalis Chauraasi' revolves around a police van MH-02-A-4084 and four policemen - Pankaj Suri aka Sir (Naseer), Albert Pinto aka Pinto (Kay Kay), Bhaskar Sardesai aka Bobby (Atul) and Shakti Chinappa aka Shakti (Ravi).

The foursome see a big opportunity when they are given a mission to pull off. However, things take a nightmarish turn when another policeman stops their van en-route and uses them as his backup to catch a gangster.

The story unfolds through the night where the fine line between law and crime is crossed many times, leading to some thrilling and some funny moments. The four men, who believed themselves to be rough and tough, learn different truths about themselves.

'There are two aspects to how 'Chaalis Chauraasi' was conceived - life imitating art or art imitating life? A chance discussion amongst friends one evening on the recent night patrolling of cops reported in the media got us excited and led to the germination of the story idea,' said Shetty.

'The film falls under the humour crime genre and the four primary male characters have colourful personalities. There is continuous entertainment through the film in the form of humour,' he added.

With Mumbai at night and dark alleys as the backdrop and a cat and mouse game between gangsters and police, the film is said to be a complete masala flick. Three item songs are like icing on the cake.

The music of the film is by Lalit Pandit. Much to the delight of music lovers, Shetty has also incorporated a remixed version of the popular song 'Hawa Hawa', which was composed by Pakistani singer Hassan Jahangir.

The film is mostly shot in the night. For 25 days, the cast crew shot in the night only and there are very few shooting schedules in daylight. According to Kay Kay, the cast enjoyed working as a team and when together they used to forget about the stress of shooting in night.

Usually known for intense performance, Atul would be seen doing some singing and dancing for the very first time, and the actor admits that he thoroughly enjoyed working in the film.

After leaving the audience in awe with his performance in 'The Dirty Picture', this would be Naseer's first release of 2012.