Neha Dhupia on shooting flood scene without script in De Dana Dan

Neha Dhupia has been in the industry for over two decades and has seen it go through a transition. She has worked with some top filmmakers like Anees Bazmee, Priyadarshan, Apoorva Lakhia, among several others. In an exclusive chat on mid-day’s The Bombay Film Story, the actress shared how the environment on film sets has changed. She recalled how directors were spontaneous and actors were comfortable working even without scripts.

Neha Dhupia on working without scripts

Neha stated how things are different on movie sets now as compared to when she started. “It’s very different now. There is good to amazing content. Nobody is greenlighting bad content. I have been on sets where there were no scripts, but you have faith,” she said. She added, “Singh Is Kinng was a big film and it did really well, but the script lay in the director`s hand, and on that day, you would get the scene.”

Stating how Anees Bazmee makes no bones about being spontaneous with the script on set, Neha remarked, “Singh Is Kinng is so hilarious. There were times when the AD would give the scenes while Anees was choreographing it. But he gets it right. Now, I don`t think you can do that. There are so many people from so many places who come in.”

Neha Dhupia recalls De Dana Dan shoot

She further recalled shooting a difficult action scene with Priyadarshan. “I did a movie like De Dana Dan with Priyadarshan. There was this massive scene where the hotel gets flooded. We were like, what do we do? And he said there will be water coming out. It was one of the most difficult action scenes we did because there were so many of us floating. And it’s not AI post—none of it. It’s real-time. I had a line with Rajpal Yadav, and I was like, how will I go ahead with it? He was like, when he lands, you quip it. He was pushed towards me and went ahead with saying his line. I was just baffled at how precise things were. It’s a vibe now; things have changed. Most people I’ve worked with are extremely punctual.”

For those unversed, Akshay Kumar, Suniel Shetty, and Paresh Rawal starred in this comic caper.