Nasuridin Shah slaps producer of Yun To..

Naseer slaps producer

Thappad phad ke!

The temperamental actor lost his cool with Shabbir Boxwala on the sets of Yun Hota To Kya Hota
Vickey Lalwani
vickey.lalwani@mid-day.com

Naseeruddin Shah slapped the producer of his directorial debut Yun Hota To Kya Hota — Shabbir Boxwala — during a shoot in Mumbai. The actor-turned-director flew into a rage because of Boxwala's constant interference in shooting and retaliated by raising his hand on him. Says an eye-witness present on the set, "Naseer and Shabbir were having problems from day one. When Naseer slapped him, there was a stunned silence on the sets. Everyone was shocked."
Over shooting
What led to Naseer losing his temper with Shabbir? The source reveals, "To begin with, Shabbir did not want Viju Shah to score the music since he feels that Viju is not happening now. But Naseer wanted only Viju, as they have a very good equation since his Tridev days."
Also, Shabbir felt that Naseer was overshooting and the film would go over-budget. Naturally, Shabbir pointed this out on a few occasions. Also he kept pressuring Naseer to complete the shooting fast. "But Naseer was on his trip. He refused to understand Shabbir's problem," the source adds.
Temper tantrums
The source also reveals that Naseer and Shabbir didn't see eye-to-eye about the way the film was being shot. "Naseer comes from a different world of cinema. He likes to shoot almost every scene in three or four possible ways. And then retain the best shot in the final draft. But this can't be done with every scene. Producer ki band baj jayegi."
We contacted Shabbir, who scoffed at the incident. "Naseer often lost his temper during the making of the film. He has a habit of losing his temper. He even lost his temper on the sets of Main Hoon Na, where he had just one scene."
'We have arguments'
Shabbir elaborates, "Naseer did not hit me. If he had hit me, I would have hit him back. But yes, he had got furious when I wanted him to hurry up that day. I wanted the shooting to get over fast because I had permission from the airport authorities and I wanted to finish the shoot on that day itself. Actually, I didn't even tell him. I told the cameraman. Naseer and I have had arguments during the shooting, but I guess that happens between every director and producer."
Shooting budgets
Shabbir further says that Naseer also lost his temper when shooting outside Mehboob Studios. He gave his assistant a piece of mind. "There was a huge crowd and his assistant, instead of managing the crowd, was busy on his mobile phone."
However, Shabbir admits that Yun Hota To Kya Hota has gone over-budget by Rs 2 crore. "The film has gone over budget quite a bit considering the kind of star cast we have taken. Being a new director, Naseer did shoot a bit more. But it's not the first time that my director has done that. Rajiv Rai did it in Tridev and Mohra. In Mohra, people thought that we were mad to make such a costly film with Akshay Kumar and Sunil Shetty, but in the end, we made money."
Is Shabbir is having problems selling Yun Hota To Kya Hota? He concludes unhesitatingly, "I am distributing the film all over India along with PVR, but on my account. PVR will be concerned with the print and publicity of the film. For overseas, we have got Shemaroo."