Saurabh Shukla Recalls Police Interrogation After Iconic 'Satya' Song Shoot

Talking about the shoot of the song to IANS, Saurabh said that when the film was made in 1998, songs in Hindi cinema usually took several days to film.

"The Kallu Mama song, you have to understand the context of the time when that film was made. In those days, there was a tradition, a set precedent, that film songs were shot for at least 3 to 4 days. Big, elaborate songs would take 10 to 15 days to shoot."

"So, if a song was supposed to take 3 to 4 days, how many days do you think this one took? It was shot in exactly 5 and a half hours."

"It was shot in 5 and a half hours," Saurabh told IANS about the track, which captures the raw, street-style vibe of Mumbai's underbelly, with spontaneous dancing and chaotic fun.

Saurabh went on to share that to shoot the number, it was just a "one-camera set-up." He added that the filming had a raw, spontaneous energy because it was not tightly choreographed.

"It was not a multiple-camera setup. It was a one-camera setup. So there was this wild energy. It wasn't choreographed, it was like a free-for-all."

He also reminisced that the production had arranged real beer as props during the shoot of the song, which also features Manoj Bajpayee and Makarand Deshpande.

"The best thing was, they provided real beer for the shoot. Which, of course, we did not drink, because we were working, we are not stupid. So we did not drink."

Once the shoot wrapped up within those few hours, the team decided to head to a party at Saurabh's house.

"And the amazing thing was that after those 5.5 hours, pack-up happened. Then we were ready for the party. My home was the party place."

However, their journey was briefly interrupted.

"Toh mere paas car thi, sab log baith gaye... sare jitne main actors the. Manoj tha, Aditya Srivastava tha, bohot saare log the. Toh baith ke hum log apni gaadi mein ja rahe the. And suddenly, humari car roki gayi."

"(I had a car, so everyone got into it all the main actors. Manoj was there, Aditya Srivastava was there, and many others. So we were all sitting in the car and driving when suddenly our car was stopped.)"

The actor revealed that they had not even changed out of their costumes and were driving straight to the party when their car was suddenly stopped on the way.

Aur hum logon ne costume change nahi kiya tha, usi costume mein ghar ja rahe the (We hadn't changed our costumes and were heading home in the same outfits.)

"Toh usne darwaza khola aur bola, "Baap re! Andar kya poora ka poora bhatti laga rakhi hai tum logon ne? (He opened the door and said, 'Oh my God! What's going on inside? Have you set up an entire liquor distillery in here?')

He quickly clarified that none of them had been drinking.

"Toh humne kaha, 'Nahi sir, humne kuch nahi piya hai. (We told him, "No sir, we haven't drunk anything)"

Shukla added with a laugh: "He said, 'Kya nahi piya hai? Poora tumhari car mein aisa smell aa raha hai jaise samandar ke andar poori sharaab ki bhatti ho.'"

"(He replied, 'What do you mean you haven't drunk anything? Your car smells as if there's a whole liquor distillery inside the ocean!)"

Satya was directed by Ram Gopal Varma. It stars J. D. Chakravarthy, Urmila Matondkar, and Manoj Bajpayee, alongside Saurabh Shukla, Aditya Shrivastava and Paresh Rawal. It is the first of Varma's Gangster trilogy about organised crime in India.

The film follows Satya, an immigrant who comes to Mumbai looking for a job, befriends Bhiku Mhatre, and is drawn into the Mumbai underworld.

- IANS