UAE- Welcome Back gang opens up at DIFF

(MENAFN- Khaleej Times) John Abraham Anil Kapoor Nana Patekar actresses Ankita and Surveen Chawla director Anees Bazmee and producer Firoz Nadiadwala gave a glimpse of the other side of their lives

Local bollywood fans thronged the Madinat Theatre at the ongoing 11th Dubai International Film Festival on Friday afternoon for a session titled ‘In Conversation’ with the stars of Welcome Back.John Abraham Anil Kapoor Nana Patekar actresses Ankita and Surveen Chawla director Anees Bazmee and producer Firoz Nadiadwala came on stage to give their fans a glimpse of the other side of their lives and were treated to a rousing welcome but it was John Abraham who got most of the audience members really excited. Cries of “We love you John” and “Can I click a picture with you” could be heard and when someone from the audience put a question to Nana Patekar asking how it felt to be overshadowed by his co-star the actor replied in a satirical manner “I feel jealous.” Nana turned out to be wittiest amongst all keeping both the audience and cast members in splits with his sense of humour.He made fun of his looks recalling how people used to laugh at him in his earlier days and taunt him by saying ‘Look at your face forget acting go do some regular job to earn your bread and butter’. He also made fun of Anil Kapoor: “When I see English movies I see them with subtitles which is why I missed out on watching Anil Kapoor in Mission Impossible because by the time I got done reading the subtitles his character was already out of the scene.” Anil responded by saying “No role is big or small but an actor is big or small.”Anil in a chat with City Times said that he believed DIFF was lucky for him. “This is my fourth time at the festival; I came here first for Mr. India then for Slumdog Millionaire then for Mission Impossible and now for Welcome Back. All three films have been hugely successful so my fingers are crossed. DIFF is a lucky platform for me; I love coming to this festival. Dubai is my favourite city; it is like coming home.” Anil who made the Indian version of popular TV series 24 will next be adapting the sitcom Modern Family for Indian television.The actor also sounded excited about short YouTube clips that his younger daughter Rhea Kapoor is producing called On the Bench a show that makes fun of celebrities. “I think digital is the future in the future we are going to watch films in mobile formats so the quicker we get there the better it is for us. I am going to come on the show soon.”It was nice to see the actors being sporting enough to shed their inhibitions and share some of their innermost thoughts.Nana said “We are constantly living the lives of various characters and hardly get time to live our lives. We hide our real emotions in front of the camera and go and cry to ourselves at night.” John echoed Nana’s sentiments saying “It is not easy living an actor’s life as we are so used to hearing great things about ourselves that we cannot take honest criticism after a certain point.”Surveen Chawla who is doing a special dance number in Welcome Back spoke about the song.“It is a wedding number not an item number. It took a week to shoot and I got to dance with three hunks - Anil John and Nana!”The cast and crew are back in the city finishing the last schedule of the film.Producer Firoz Nadiadwala said “We will be filming at the Palace Hotel Downtown Armani Hotel in Burj Khalifa and Palm Jumeirah. In February we will come back to Dubai for the launch of the poster and we’ll be back in May for the premiere.”