These stories find us: Ritesh Sidhwani on supporting friendship-themed films | Bollywood

New Delhi, Friendship-centric films resonate with a wider audience and such stories land one way or the other at production house Excel Entertainment, says co-founder Ritesh Sidhwani.

The producer formed the banner with his filmmaker friend Farhan Akhtar in 1999 and their debut production ‘Dil Chahta Hai’ is considered one of the best depictions of friendship in the modern era.

Over the past 25 years, Excel Entertainment has gone from strength to strength as a quality content studio, also expanding its presence through streamers with “Mirzapur” and “Made in Heaven.” But stories of friendship have been a constant under the banner, be it ‘Rock On!!’, the ‘Fukrey’ franchise, ‘Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara’ or the upcoming ‘Madgaon Express’.

“These stories find us. If someone writes a movie based on bromance and it’s about friends, somehow it comes to us knowing that we’re crazy about it. But I feel like it resonates to a wider audience.

“Without friends, none of us would be in this space that we’re in. We all have that special person or friend. I don’t know anyone who hasn’t had that kind of thing in their life. It makes it a bit more relevant,” Sidhwani told PTI in an interview here.

“Madgaon Express”, released in theaters on Friday, follows the journey of three childhood friends – played by Pratik Gandhi, Divyenndu and Avinash Tiwary – who embark on a trip to Goa that goes wrong.

Every friendship trip has its own experience, Sidhwani said, adding that the three friends from ‘Dil Chahta Hai’ starring Aamir Khan, Saif Ali Khan and Akshaye Khanna happen to visit Goa but it was not a road movie .

“‘Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara’ is a road trip film, ‘Rock On!!’ is not a road trip movie but it is again about friendship. You immediately connect to such stories, and whatever that journey is, whoever those friends are.

“Sometimes you make friends on a journey, sometimes on that journey you begin to realize each other’s strengths, weaknesses or conflicts. Everything in friendship is resolved through a much better and faster way,” he added.

Actor Kunal Kemmu, who is making his directorial debut with “Madgaon Express”, said the film is an ode to his first trip to Goa which he undertook on a train called Madgaon Express.

“Usually, people ask me why Goa? It’s also the modes of transport we take to get to these places. Especially with friends, it will be either a road trip or a plane trip. But the “Air travel won’t be as fun because the type of space and the type of experiences you can have on a car or train trip are slightly more than on a plane,” he said. declared.

Kemmu, whose acting credits include “Kalyug”, “Go Goa Gone” and “Lootcase”, directed the film from a script he wrote.

Having started his career as a child star with films such as ‘Zakhm’ and ‘Hum Hain Rahi Pyar Ke’ to his credit, the debutant filmmaker said becoming a director was the natural next step.

“I got an opportunity to do things as a writer, director at a renowned production house with renowned actors. I am very happy with the kind of love the trailer is getting, which makes me believe that maybe people will come to the movies with their friends and have a good time. I can’t think of a better way to be able to do everything that goes into making a movie for a six year old who spent most of his life on a film set,” he said. added.

Divyenndu, popular for playing the role of Munna bhaiya in ‘Mirzapur’, said working on ‘Madgaon Express’ gave him a chance to return to the comedy genre after playing intense roles. Her breakout role was the 2011 comedy ‘Pyaar Ka Punchnama’.

“As an actor, you need that break from indulging too much in a certain genre. Comedy is kind of a palette cleanser. You want to get back to where you started and that’s something difficult as an actor. My personal vocation has always been drama. It’s something I’m very comfortable with.

“Comedy takes a lot of work for me to perform on screen. In life, I may enjoy funny lines, but on screen, it takes a lot of work. For a very long time, I was looking for one of those scripts that isn’t a forced comedy… And fun… Then came ‘Madgaon Express’. And I was like, ‘Yeah, let’s do it,'” he declared.

It was a similar experience for Tiwary, who recently played the role of a gangster in ‘Bambai Meri Jaan’.

“All I want is to do good work and also express my versatility in different types of genres, from, for example, a love story to fantasy, horror, thrillers and gangsters. I kind of covered every genre I could and I was hoping and waiting for a comedy to come along,” he added.

Sidhwani also gave an update on the premiere of the much-awaited ‘Mirzapur 3’.

“It’s not really in our hands, it’s in Prime’s hands. But I think it will be around June or July,” he said.

‘Madgaon Express’ also stars Nora Fatehi, Upendra Limaye and Chhaya Kadam.

This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modification to the text.