On Vatsal Sheth's birthday, we revisit his popular debut film 'Taarzan: The Wonder Car' which has also completed 20 years of release. The film also marked the debut of Ayesha Takia
L-Still from Taarzan-The Wonder Car; R- Vatsal Sheth
Actors Vatsal Sheth and Ayesha Takia made their Hindi film debut with Abbas-Mustan-directed thriller ‘Taarzan- The Wonder Car’. The film had Ajay Devgn in a special role as Vatsal’s father and also starred the likes of Amrish Puri, Farida Jalal, Sadashiv Amrapurkar, Shakti Kapoor, and Gulshan Grover. The film revolves around Raj who revamps his deceased father's car into a wonderful car named Taarzan. However, the car comes alive as it is possessed by his father's spirit. Soon, it also starts killing his father's murderers. Released on August 6, 2004, the film has completed two decades since its release in theatres.
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On Vatsal's birthday, we revisit the story behind him bagging the lead role in the film. Talking to mid-day.com, Vatsal had said that he could not have asked for a better debut despite the film getting into the unfamiliar territory of a revenge car. "I was never skeptical and was more than excited. Abbas-Mustan is a very big name in the industry and I got to debut under them, It was a car movie, and who doesn't like cars? It was such an amazing concept, set up in a nice way, big budget film and we had Ajay sir in the film. I thought it couldn't get better than that," he said.
While the film underperformed at the box office, it soon achieved cult status as people discovered the film on satellite and eventually on OTT platforms. "Unfortunately, when films don't do well at the box office, there are a lot of reasons- Correct time, publicity, marketing- which factor into success at the box office. But I also feel, if the film is not good, it will not do well anywhere. It was when I met somebody from Zee back then how big the film really is. They would put Tarzaan in the same time slot when competitive channels would telecast films like 'Ra.One' and Don. That's when I realised it is huge. To date people talk about Tarzaan,” Vatsal said.
“Recently, there was a funny meme going on when we had a baby boy, where they said Ajay sir is the only one in the word to become a nana and dada in the world together. It's been two decades since Taarzan and people still connect with it. This shows how successful the film is and how much people love this film.” Ajay Devgn played Ishita Dutta’s father in the hit film ‘Drishyam’ and ‘Drishyam 2’. Vatsal and Ishita are married to each other and welcomed a baby boy last year.
Talking about how he landed the film, Vatsal shared, "Well, to my surprise there was no audition. I met Abbas-Mustan and they spoke to me for a good one hour. My manager called and said that I am in for the project. I did not even ask whether they want my pictures or an audition. I didn't want to lose out on the film, I was like 'great'. When we started shooting, I asked Abbas-Mustan bhai why they did not do my audition and what made them sign me. They had not even seen my TV show 'Just Mohabbat'. They said, ‘Vastal, we auditioned and met like a lot of guys, at least 40-50 guys. They said that everybody used to come to their office and everyone would wear tight shirts, sleeves, and jackets. They were fully dressed up and showing off their physique and muscles’. They said you were the only one who came in a simple shirt and jeans, and they felt like oh this is the boy.”
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