Why Tusshar Kapoor and Aftab Shivdasani met porn stars in Bangkok

Tusshar Kapoor and Aftab Shivdasani

From intensive physical training to cutting off oneself from rest of the world, present-day actors are going to extreme lengths to prepare for their roles, much before the cameras start rolling and the director shouts out 'action'.

Tusshar Kapoor and Aftab Shivdasani (right) recently met porn stars in Bangkok to prep up for their roles in the third instalment of 'Kya Kool Hai Hum'

If Ranveer Singh's self-imposed isolation for 'Bajirao Mastani' and Randeep Hooda-Alia Bhatt's non interaction during 'Highway' was not enough, take this: porn talk for preparation. Tusshar Kapoor and Aftab Shivdasani, who play porn stars in the third instalment of 'Kya Kool Hai Hum', recently jetted off to Bangkok to meet some such real entertainers! Tusshar is also incorporating a part of their lifestory in the film to add to its "authenticity".

Darshan Kumar kept distance from (below) Anushka Sharma to stay in his 'bad man' character while shooting for the actress' maiden production 'NH10'

Says Tanveer Bookwala, chief creative officer of Balaji Telefilms, which is producing the film, "While it is a crazy sex comedy, one has to play it straight and make the unbelievable believable. That's when comic situations work best. The porn stars literally brought method to the madness and helped the actors put in their best efforts - no pun intended."

Well, if Jamie Dornan can visit a 'sex dungeon' to get into the skin of BDSM-loving Christian Grey for 'Fifty Shades of Grey', porn stars can definitely provide an insight into the adult entertainment industry. But flying down to Bangkok is literally taking things too far, isn't it now?

Varun Dhawan and Nawazuddin Siddiqui spent time with the inmates of Nashik jail to prepare for their roles in their recently-released film 'Badlapur'

Take a jail pill
Varun Dhawan, who won critical acclaim for his role as Raghu in his recently released film 'Badlapur', was said to have undergone intense training for his role, which apparently led to depression. It was reported that he spent two days in Nashik jail to shoot for his film, living like the other inmates and eating prison food. The actor later admitted that living life beyond the luxuries he had seen thus far affected his mental well-being.

Aditya Roy Kapur is keeping away from people to stay in character for 'Fitoor'

The crime thriller's villain, Nawazuddin Siddiqui also spent a couple of days in jail to grasp how the inmates behave. "I am someone who goes with the director's vision for the character. There are times when I prepare for a role like in case of Mountain Man which is complete method acting, but in the case of Kick I was told by Sajid Nadiadwala to be one note up and just play to the gallery which I did. I always draw the backbone of my character before thinking how to add frills to it," says Nawazuddin.

Zeenat Aman visited brothels to prep up for 'Manoranjan' (1974)

Reeks of strategy
The idea of eating jail food and staying in prison as part of preparations for a film, however, does not resonate with film writer Bharathi Pradhan. She says, "Nowadays, all these are used as material for a film's publicity, though learning to be the character does help some and does not in other cases. I remember Zeenat Aman going to whore-houses for her character in 'Manoranjan' (1974), but the language she spoke was far from what one hears in such places."

From left: Rajkummar Rao, Amit Sadh and Sushant Singh Rajput were made to spend a lot of time with each other so that their camaraderie in 'Kai Po Che' could appear natural

The snub theory
Whoever had said 'distance makes the heart grow fonder' probably forgot to add Hindi films in the list of exceptions.

Quite recently, we learnt that Anushka Sharma and Neil Bhooplam used to maintain distance from the villain (Darshan Kumar) while shooting for the actress' upcoming debut production - until they faced him for a scene. Darshan would be made to sit at least a 'kilometre' away (that big a set?) from them so that he stayed in his 'bad man' character.

Says the 'Mary Kom' actor, "There is a certain kind of awkwardness between my character and hers in the film and I wanted to keep it that way. Staying away helped; we spoke only on the last day of the shoot and met next at the mid-day office."

Be friendly, or don't
Isolation seems to be the in-thing. Casting director Mukesh Chhabra, who conducts pre-shoot workshops with actors, talks about his stint with the cast of Abhishek Kapoor's Fitoor. "Aditya Roy Kapur's character is supposed to be quiet and in real life too, he has become so. He is staying away from interacting with people," he states.

Reminiscing about 'Kai Po Che' (2013), Chhabra says he had made all the three actors - Sushant Singh Rajput, Amit Sadh and Rajkummar Rao - spend time a lot of time together so that their on-screen camaraderie appeared genuine. For 'Citylights' (2014), Rajkummar was made to interact with security guards to understand their lifestyle, he adds.