After Himesh, Nikhil pays homage to rickshaw drivers

Once upon a time, rickshaw drivers used to be pretty much in vogue, especially when it came to Rajinikanth movies. Ever since Rajini’s Baasha turned out to be a global blockbuster, auto rickshaws started playing an important role in majority of movies starring the Superstar.

While Hindi films haven’t really warmed up to auto rickshaws (with the rare exception being Sirf Tum where Jackie Shroff played an auto rickshaw driver), it took a Himesh Reshammiya to make it all fashionable, considering the fact that he had them packed all the way from India to Germany with entire bag, baggage and vehicle in his debut flick Aap Kaa Surroor.

Now Nikhil Dwivedi, the young man from My Name Is Anthony Gonsalves, is also trying to do his bit for auto rickshaw drivers in his upcoming film Khalbali Hai Khalbali. Buzz is that for one of the songs from the film, he has as many as 100 auto rickshaws along with the drivers filling up the frames.

Confirms Ajay Chandok, director of Khalbali Hai Khalbali, “My film is an out and out mass entertainer and I don’t see any reason why I shouldn’t be targeting this particular segment of audience. It is my way of paying homage to the community which has been providing services to us Mumbaikars at a relentless pace. We have shot the number at some of the strategic locations in the city of Mumbai to get the right true flavor on screen.”

Laughs Nikhil Dwivedi, “It was fun to be interacting with them. Yes, I have been on rickshaws as a passenger, but it was a unique experience to be interacting with them so closely and even match steps.”

Incidentally, these auto rickshaw drivers were arranged by the song’s choreographer duo of Bosco and Ceaser. They went all out to lend an authenticity to the frames and didn’t relent before everyone got their steps right. Apart from 100 drivers and Nikhil, the song also features South star Sada