Bombaat tickles with NOGRAJ

Strike a conversation with them and they’re bound to leave you in splits every other minute. We caught up with the bombaat trio — Danish Sait, Saad Khan and Sumukhi Suresh, who got candid about their Kannada film Humble Politician Nograj, in this freewheeling chat... Nagaraj (pronounced Nograj) is one of Danish’s many radio/online characters. From a cop to a corporation employee, Nagaraj has donned different avatars, and is also Mr Nags, the hilarious RCB insider!

How was the idea of Humble Politician Nograj born?
Saad (S): We were both in the US when Danny called me and said — let’s do a movie about Nograj. Initially, we were contemplating on Inspector Nograj as we thought we’ll have a lot of scope, but then we decided to make him a politician.

Danish (D): We were doing live videos together and knew the character well, so we knew it had potential. The moment I said Humble Politician Nograj, Saad immediately jumped in agreement. When I landed here, we met at night to have chai on the street, and decided to do a film this year. Maaz (Saad’s brother) and the two of us wrote the story.  

How did Sumukhi get on board? 
S: I first met Sumukhi at an Improv tryout session. She was a jumpy, friendly girl, and we thought she was talented. After she did an acting workshop, we had her in a show and after three shows, she really opened herself to the whole idea, and took the cake away. 
D: After we wrote the first line of the film, I was sure I wanted Sumukhi as Lavanya. I feel so proud of her and it gives me joy to see her do well. 
S: When I saw her in a saree speaking Kannada at the screen test, I knew that nobody else could be Lavanya. We pulled a fast one on her, and told her we didn’t pick her, and then broke the news that she was chosen.
Sumukhi (SS): Yes, and I was like ‘oh, it’s cool, the film is way more important’, but when I found out the truth, I screamed! Honestly, I had so much fun with the character. Saad knows my strengths. As for Danny, my first good scene was with him where I played the boss and he let me bully him throughout. So thank you for that, Danny.

How did you get the producers on board? 
D: We didn’t spend too much time scouting for producers. We worked meticulously though. We went to Rana Daggubati and spent three hours with him, and he liked the idea. The common advice we got was to keep Nograj’s character Karnataka-centric.
S: We met Pushkar, the producer of Godhi Banna... and he said — let’s do it. Post that, we got director Hemanth Rao on board. Soon, Pushkar took the decision to bring Rakshit Shetty into the project, so we narrated the script to Rakshit, who laughed throughout and the next day, we got a message saying he was in.  

Saad and Sumukhi, which character of Danish’s do you like the most? 
S: Nograj! There’s something about him. When I met Danny him for the first time, he spoke like Nograj and I laughed so hard. I told my friend — this guy is a star! I also love his Arab character, his Chacko and Nogesh. I’m also asking him to work on his Delhi woman accent. (Danish breaks into a Dilli lady accent). 
SS: Asgar — I love that voice. There’s one prank call where he does Asgar and Nograj both — that’s super funny.  

What do you like/not like most about each other? 
D: I like Saad’s persistence and that he’s very detail-oriented. I also don’t like that sometimes as he gets too involved!
S: Danny’s talent. And I don’t
like the fact that I’m jealous of his talent! As for Sumukhi, I love her diligence.
D: She’s very meticulous. I wish she lived here — I miss her.
SS: Saad is someone who is very thorough. As for Danny, he’s that friend I call at 2 am to talk about things. He’s Mr Fix It.  

What are your future plans?
D and S: We want a holiday for sure, without Nograj! Maybe, we should go to New York and be classmates at an Improv course. This process has made us closer — hope we collaborate on the next few projects too.
SS: I’ve written my own web series for which I start shooting soon. I also want to create nice, funnier characters for women.