Rangita Nandy: Badgering Sunny Leone in the name of journalism is distasteful

Sunny Leone’s sex comedy Mastizaade is round the corner. The film’s producer Rangita Nandy talks exclusively to SpotboyE about her heroine’s controversial interview which went viral yesterday, and of course, her film and the censorship issues it faced. Excerpts:

 Your heroine is in the eye of storm after her controversial interview...

Sunny is a strong, graceful, brave and beautiful woman. She deserves every bit of the respect and love coming her way. It’s unfortunate that she had to sit through that interview- but she’s too much of a professional to walk out of a commitment.

How would you describe that interview?

Any interview is about two people. Both people must have the right and respect to respond to the subject being discussed. Badgering Sunny Leone in the name of journalism is distasteful.

Many star wives are not comfortable about their husbands starring opposite Sunny...

I’ve not met any of these ladies!

There are whispers that the interview was scripted for Mastizaade publicity. What do you have to say to that?

Garbage. I am a woman and I would not put any of the women in my team, leave alone my lead actor, through that.

Over to your film. Can you watch it with your family?

Absolutely! But then again, we are all adults.

How did Mastizaade happen?

I wanted to make a comedy and I was shopping for scripts. Anoop, my production head, spoke with Milap Zaveri. Milap said that he has an idea for an adult comedy. I didn’t know how to say no to Milap, we’ve worked on several films together. So I agreed to a narration. 

10 minutes into the narration and I was cracking up. My team was whistling and clapping, my sister, who is a prude, was cheering. Mind you, we were 4 women in that room with Milap and Mushtaq Sheikh, from age groups 27 to 45, and none of us were offended even the slightest. That did the trick. I knew I had to make this movie with Milap as its director.

Was Sunny the first choice?

Always. Actually, she was our wild card. We never thought she’d say yes. I had heard rumours about Sunny wanting an image change after Ragini MMS 2. So I approached Daniel Weber (Sunny’s husband) rather apprehensively. If you’ve seen Daniel, you know what I’m talking about. He’s 6-foot-something to my 5-foot-nothing, covered in tattoos, wears only black and never smiles. Milap and I were ready to run when we met him. But he heard 10 minutes of Mastizaade and giggled all through, asked if we could narrate it to Sunny immediately, walked us across the street to their apartment--- and the rest, as they say, is history!

Many bigger actors were uncomfortable signing Mastizaade in different roles after you cast her...

We didn’t go to any ‘bigger’ actors. We had our cast in our head, we knew we were making an adult comedy--- so casting options were quite limited.

There’s a school of thought that we are pushing the envelope a bit too far on sex comedies...

I can only talk about the film that I’ve made. We’ve filmed only between permissible limits. That’s why we got the CBFC certificate.

Were you disappointed when your film had to meet with a lot of cuts?

I was exhausted with the time and effort that went into our certification process. But I guess, the CBFC has guidelines to follow and a job to do. So, they did their job. And we went about protecting our film.

Are you happy with the final product of Mastizaade? 

Extremely! I’m itching to get started on Mastizaade 2!

Would you have liked more adult content to have remained intact? Are you angry with the Censors?

Not at all. I think, miraculously, we genuinely have a better film today. I know you won’t believe me when I say this--- but Mastizaade will reach out and be popular with a larger audience today than it would have been in its original avatar.

Do you think that censorship should be abolished?

That’s not for me to have an opinion about since I make movies. But yeah, sometimes I wish that the process was easier.

Will Shyam Benegal make a difference?

Mr. Benegal is a much respected senior. I’m sure he will do what the government has brought him in for.

What’s your opinion about Pahlaj Nihalani?

Mr. Nihalani is only working within the guidelines of the CBFC. He has been around in our industry longer than I’ve been on this planet. I’ve attended one of the informative seminars that he hosted as chairperson of CBFC, and he appears to be genuinely interested in making a difference and updating the existing CBFC.

Tusshar Kapoor is promoting his home production Kyaa Kool Hain Hum 3 more than Mastizaade. Are you upset with him?

He is doing what he wants to do. You’ll need to ask him his reasons for doing so.

Don't you think Kya Kool hai Hum 3 and Mastizaade should have had a larger gap in their release dates - both are just one week apart and both are sex comedies?

We announced Mastizaade on January 29 before the other film. We’ve stuck by our date. This question should be addressed to the new entrant.

Image Source: ravirawat, fameknowledge, meetchina,youtube/mastizaadefilm, sunnyleoneindia & facebook/mastizaade