EXCLUSIVE: Divya Dutta on redevelopment in Mumbai amid Last Man In Tower Zee 5 premiere, “We have to take a step forward but…”; also recalls Manoj Bajpayee cooking in between shots
Filmmaker Ben Rekhi’s Last Man In Tower received high critical acclaim after it was released earlier this year. Based on author Aravind Adiga’s novel of the same name, the film is about one man, played by Manoj Bajpayee, standing against the redevelopment of his housing society in Mumbai. The film also had a remarkable performance by Divya Dutta in a complex and layered role as Mrs. Puri.
Last Man In Tower has started streaming on Zee 5 from today November 6 onwards. Happy that the film will now reach more audience, Dutta got talking about the film and her experience in an exclusive chat with Bollywood Hungama.
Sharing why the film is special for her, Divya Dutta said, “My role was written beautifully. There was also some magic of improvisations that happened on the sets, which was very neatly done. My role has received a lot of love. I didn’t know this kind of relatability would come with my role. Whoever has seen the film, it’s been a beautiful watch as a film for them. The confusion about whose side is right or wrong is something different from all the roles I have done.”
When asked about her preparations for playing Mrs. Puri, the actor said, “You just have to feel the agony of the woman, who is so helpless. She hasn’t dared to dream as she is too busy with what life has to offer. Then she sees a ray of hope. In that situation when you see the vulnerability of the person, it touches you very much.”
Dutta said it was sheer pleasure to work with the likes of Manoj Bajpayee and Boman Irani, who plays the ambitious real estate developer Dharmen Shah. “They are magicians with what they do yaar,” she said. “What I like the most and what I must talk about is that they are amazing human beings. They have been in the industry for so long. They are so grounded. There are no starry tantrums. There is no feeling of, ‘Oh I know my job so well and people look up to me’. There is so much security and joy on the sets that it kind of trickles on everyone being there.”
A poignant moment in Last Man In Tower is the one where Dutta’s character breaks down in front of Irani’s. “That’s my most favourite scene,” she said. “The other is with Manoj when she has an outburst at him. It’s so helpful to have these people around you. To see them perform, be with them and keep doing different things is amazing; to get into an intense scene, cut out and have a joke is fun. You look forward to being on that kind of set.”
Interestingly, during the shoot, Bajpayee displayed his immense passion to feed his co-stars while the shoot was going on simultaneously. “I remember we were shooting on the third floor without a lift because we were shooting in an actual location,” recalled Dutta. “So, he would come down, make it, then go up, stir it and then go up again, give an intense shot, come down again and stir it again. So, I was like, ‘Man, you have a passion for both – for cooking and feeding people and acting’. He would feed us with immense love.”
Right after Last Man In Tower, Dutta and Bajpayee were seen in the recently-released OTT film Gajab Raat. “It’s amazing to be in two totally different and distinctly different roles in two different stories. There is so much security (in Bajpayee). He will do his bit and he will say, ‘Oh this is yours’. So, it becomes such a comfortable and nurtured place. There is no other way but to give your best and enjoy it. When you enjoy, it comes really well.”
Last Man In Tower couldn’t have come at a better time when almost the entire city of Mumbai is going through rampant redevelopment. Divya Dutta was asked what does she personally feels about what’s going on in the city. She gave an elaborate answer to that.
“I feel we do have to take a step forward,” she said. “Of course, there has to be development and progress. Old has to give way to the new. But I do feel that you have to hold hands with what is there; be it your relations, environment, everything. You have to go hand-in-hand. You can’t take away something to make something. Even in our families, our old traditions are also followed. As we progress, the old values and things that keep us together – compassion, love, empathy and co-existence; that is something we are forgetting. I think that along with development is very important.”
The post EXCLUSIVE: Divya Dutta on redevelopment in Mumbai amid Last Man In Tower Zee 5 premiere, “We have to take a step forward but…”; also recalls Manoj Bajpayee cooking in between shots appeared first on Bollywood Hungama.