'Thai Massage' has a touch of realism and innocence: director Mangesh Hadawale

Mumbai: Filmmaker Mangesh Hadawale says though his latest film “Thai Massage” is a departure from his previous filmography, he has maintained his trademark style of presenting realism and innocence.

Hadawale, best known for critically acclaimed films “Tingya” and “Dekh Indian Circus”, said it is his endeavour to make unique movies.

“‘Thai Massage’ has a touch of realism, nuances, capturing real moments much like, how ‘Tingya’, ‘Dekh India Circus’ and ‘Taapal’ were. Yet they all are different from one another. There will always be uniqueness in all my films.

“My previous films have innocence and strong social message. This film also has it. But there are some topics that need extra sugar coating and ‘Thai Massage’ has more sugar coating than my other movies,” Hadwale told PTI.

The director said he had penned the script of “Thai Massage” in 2014 but kept the project on a back-burner as he felt the audiences were not ready for it.

Billed as a family entertainer set in Ujjain and Thailand, the movie presents the heartwarming tale of a traditional man named Atmaram Dubey (Gajraj Rao) in the dusk of his life facing erectile dysfunction.

The recent success of social dramas pushed him to revisit the story, which is inspired by his parents, Hadawale said.

“The story belongs to my parents. When my father got paralysis, he was 51 years old at that time and my mother was 41 years old. My father was alive for the next 17 years and we took care of him, especially my mother.” He added he would often think about his father’s guilt that he was not physically fit.

“This was the seed of the idea. I reversed the idea for the film. My mother’s part is played by Gajraj sir and his wife is having paralysis.” Hadawale said he has been careful about the treatment of the subject of erectile dysfunction.

“This topic could go below the belt but our story is about the emotion of people. I had to work a lot more on this film as I did not want to make the film awkward for anyone while watching it in the theatre,” he added.

For “Thai Massage”, the filmmaker said he needed innocence in the performance of his lead actor and that’s why he decided to cast Rao.

“The core part of the story is innocence. Gajraj sir has inbuilt innocence in him and he is a very talented actor. Divyendu Sharma is also the apt cast for a small-town boy, he is a brilliant actor and has a good timing,” he added.

Also starring Sunny Hinduja, Rajpal Yadav, Vibha Chibber, and Russian actor Alina Zasobina, “Thai Massage” released in theatres last week.

The film is produced by Imtiaz Ali, T-Series Films and Reliance Entertainment.