BY VEENA RAO
Photo by Krish Photography

Atlanta, GA: Chandler and Paddy Sharma held the Atlanta premiere of the indie movie, “Love, Wrinkle Free” at the LeFont Theaters in Sandy Springs on October 25. The movie stars their son Ash Chandler in the lead. The event was a fundraiser for the Rotary Club of Emory Druid Hills, and was attended by former Georgia State Representative Mike Glanton, prominent Rotarians and community members.

“Love, Wrinkle-free” is a tangy little Indian English comedy about a catholic family in Goa. Middle-aged Savio (Ash Chandler) with an adopted teenage daughter and a seven-year-older henpecking wife Annie (Shernaz Patel), is going through troubles in his job. The couple discovers that despite her age, and in spite of many failed attempts, Annie is pregnant.

Savio, meanwhile, falls for a suave businessman Rajiv (Theron D’souza), who raises money to invest in his business.

As things start falling apart, Savio finds himself falling for Rajiv’s girlfriend Natalie (Seema Rahmani) even as Rajiv goes absconding with his money. Things, it seems, can’t go worse. But they do.

There are many things that work for this comedy. Most of all are the actors. Ash Chandler is immensely likeable as the perennially confused, hassled and typical Goan man Savio. Shernaz Patel as his wife excels.

As director Sandeep Mohan digs deep into Goan culture, he finds many of their idiosyncrasies that make for funny screen time. The writing is also funny with some really witty lines.

A Q&A with the movie’s star, Ash Chandler, followed the screening. Chandler said he was first offered the role of the suave Rajiv. But he convinced the movie’s director Sandeep Mohan to give him the role of the very Goan Savio. Mohan agreed after seeing Ash with a heavier, very credible Savio persona after three weeks. Eventually, Ash gained nine kilos for the role.

“Playing the role of Savio, a man who has trouble expressing himself, was a challenge because in real life I am pretty articulate,” he said.

The movie is a product of crowd funding and lots of passion from the cast and crew. It was shot in just 22 days, which was an entirely different experience for Ash whose previous experience was with a visually opulent director like Sanjay Leela Bhansali (‘Guzaarish’) who took an entire day to shoot just two shots because the elaborate sets had to be just perfect.

“We had plenty of rehearsals and improvised quite a bit on the sets,” he added.

“Love, Wrinkle Free” is made for a fairly universal audience. The movie has been part of 15 film festivals till date, he said.

Ash, who is also credited as the first English language stand-up comedian in India, was nominated recently for Best Actor in a leading role for his work in this film at the SAIFF in New York.

An accomplished singer, Ash has released a top selling Hindi pop album titled Husn, with Magnasound. He has put together a talented ensemble of musicians to form his band ‘The Ash Trays’.  On television, Ash was the popular host of The Man's World Show - an award winning show on AXN along with hundreds of appearances on MTV, Zoom and Ztv.

Ash plans to move back to the US after spending 13 years in India.

Chittaranjan Jyotishi, the current president of Rotary Club of Emory Druid Hills presented the young actor with a memento and watch.

The evening also included a brief audio-visual presentation of the club’s activities.

.


Post Comment