OMG! director Umesh Shukla's 102 Not Out is 90% done. “Only five days of the shooting remain,” he says. He’s planning a December 1 release. Fans of Amitabh Bachchan and Rishi Kapoor, the stars of 102 Not Out, are in for a treat. The two actors have not been seen together since Ajooba in 1991. Before that, they were seen in Naseeb, Amar Akbar Anthony, Coolie and Kabhi Kabhie.According to Umesh, post production work on the film has already begun.
In 102 Not Out, Amitabh and Rishi play father and son of ages 102 and 75 respectively. “This combination hasn’t been explored before and I believed they would be perfect for the roles,” Umesh says, adding, “I had already selected Bachchan saab but for Chintuji’s role I did have a couple of other actors in mind. After much thought, I knew Chintuji would be apt for the role, and the chemistry between the two actors as father and son is fresh in the film. They are playing Gujaratis, which is another first for them.”
Getting their dates was difficult because both actors were busy with other commitments. But the director says once their dates were given, there was no delay and they managed to finish the shoot in one-and-half month.
Umesh, who has grown up admiring the actors, found the shooting experience amazingly brilliant. “It helped me to learn so much, they are so disciplined and talented,” he says. He kept the schedule under wraps and shot entirely in Mumbai around Colaba, Nariman Point, Bandra, Fort, Juhu and Worli.
“People are going to fall in love with both characters,” he claims, “and Bachchan saab will be seen in a completely new avatar. He appointed makeup genius Preeti Singh to work on their respective looks for the film. Both actors have sat through extensive prosthetics for earlier films: Amitabh Bachchan in 2009, when he played a 12-year-old boy suffering from progeria in Paa; and, Rishi Kapoor in 2016, when he enacted a 90-year-old grandfather in Kapoor & Sons. “It takes about four hours to put on their makeup and the same amount of time to take it off,” Umesh says. But, apparently, neither actor complained.
