After the 2007 box-office dud "Laaga Chunri Mein Daag", director Pradeep Sarkar looks forward to securing a hit with "Lafangey Parindey", an unusual love story about a blind ambitious girl and a street fighter that releases Friday.
Produced under the banner of Yash Raj Films, "Lafangey Parindey" is about Nandu (Neil) who fights blindfolded and visually challenged Pinky Palkar (Deepika), who can dance on skates.
While Nandu is fierce and hungry to win, Pinky's ambition is to rise above all the 'losers' living in her locality and carve a niche for herself. They, along with a group of friends, set out on a journey to achieve the impossible.
Deepika calls it one of the most challenging films of her career.
"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 told.
"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, " she added.
The actress along with other cast and crew spent time with visually challenged people to understand their behavioural nuances and figure out counter actions.
The film will have some daring stunts and both the actors have performed them themselves.
Neil admits 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.
"There's nothing fake about the fists of fury that fly in Pradeep Sarkar's film. It requires the rawest of physical violence and it can't be faked. So if you see me now I'm covered with welters, wounds and bruises, all gifted to me every day while shooting this, the most dangerous film of my career, " Neil had told.
In fact, the actor narrowly escaped a major accident while shooting for the film when his bike went over a manhole and the actor lost his balance. Fortunately, he quickly managed to jump back on and wasn't seriously hurt.
Even Deepika didn't shy away from taking risks. A scene required her to ride a bike and fall into a muddy dip. The director and Neil were wary of Deepika doing such a stunt on her own, but the actress refused to use a body double and successfully performed the stunt on her own.
Whether Neil and Deepika's hard work will pay off is yet to be seen.
Tuesday, August 17, 2010 11:59 IST