October 1, 2011: Milan Luthria says he wanted a fiery chemistry between Vidya Balan and Emraan Hashmi in ‘The Dirty Picture’ and kept the duo apart before the shooting of the movie.
“I think I played a bit of a game between Emraan and Vidya. I kept them apart for the longest time possible. There were no workshops to make them comfortable with each other. On the contrary, I wanted that sense of discomfort to come in because that is exactly what the characters demanded,” Luthria said.
“As they were the unlikeliest pair to come together, I wanted them to be brought together on the sets and to be thrown into a bold scene,” he added.
It is not clear whether Emraan and Vidya shared the same enthusiasm as Luthria but the director eventually had his way.
Though he slightly modified the situation by filming a scene that required Emraan and Vidya to insult each other. “I turned into an audience myself for these scenes because even I wasn’t sure about the kind of chemistry they would end up igniting. I was anxious, as they had not spent time with each other.
“I was the one who was responsible for it all, which means whatever came out of it, positive or not, was my doing. Fortunately, the scene turned out really well and from this point Emraan and Vidya were on their own,” says Luthria.
PTI