Himadri Kalita
Kenny Basumatary is known for Assamese comedy movies such as ‘Local Kung Fu’, ‘Local Utpaat’ and several others with some of the dialogues from the first movie still being heard in the households of Assam.
From making a low-budget film with ‘Local Kung Fu’ in 2013 to entering the world of Bollywood with movies including Shanghai, Mary Kom, Raag Desh, Kenny will be now seen on the big screen with none other than the Baadshah of Bollywood, Shah Rukh Khan, in the upcoming film ‘Jawan’.
Kenny Basumatary, owing to the few experiences he had while working with Bollywood where scenes shot for a movie were removed, refused to make any sort of publicity on his feature in ‘Jawan’ as he did not watch the movie himself and is unaware about his scenes to be shown in the movie.
Speaking on his role in ‘Jawan’, Kenny said, “Earlier, I shot a few scenes for Shahid Kapoor’s ‘Phata Poster Nikhla Hero’ movie, but later after watching the movie I realized that the entire scenes shot with me were removed from the movie. And now, as I haven’t watched the movie ‘Jawan’, I am unaware of how many scenes of mine will be displayed in the movie. For this reason, I do not wish to make any publicity until the movie is released.”
“I have shot at least two action scenes and if those are displayed in the movie then I will be satisfied,” he added.
Kenny was cast in the movie without having to give an audition as the director loved his acting after watching a few of his previous auditions.
The actor said, “I received a call from the casting team informing that I have been selected for the role of a commando in a movie produced by Red Chillies Entertainment adding that the director loved my acting after watching a few of my previous auditions. At first, I thought it was a prank call as to who would select someone for such a big movie without any audition, but later when the production team contacted me, I realized it was true and we discussed about the shoot timings and payment.”
Speaking on the experience of working with King Khan, Kenny said, “Shah Rukh Khan is very much dedicated and professional when it comes to work as far as I have noticed because he could memorize his lines in between the noise in the movie sets by staying calm. While shooting for the scenes, he could deliver the dialogue in the exact manner as it should be presented. We hardly got any chance to exchange words as we only used to come face to face while shooting for the scenes but whenever he saw us, he always used to greet us humbly.”
Sharing the experience of working in Bollywood movies, Kenny said, "One of the best experiences I had in the industry was playing the role of Subhash Chandra Bose in Raag Desh, and now the days I have spent in the sets of Jawan with SRK, who has been an idol for me, is memorable."
Kenny Basumatary’s ‘Local Kung Fu’ has been watched by several Assamese people and some of the dialogues such as “Khura k ki koi beh.. Sasaa”, “Tum apne sasa ko bolna ki agor usne hame liquor ka license hunkale nehi dia toh bohut digdar hoga” and others are still heard in the households of Assam. Wouldn’t it be difficult to believe that this movie did not make success in the box office collection?
The actor informed that of all the Assamese comedy movies he made so far, only Local Utpaat has been able to become a hit movie by making Rs. 1.4 crore in the box office collection. He said, “Only one movie directed by me became a hit is Local Utpaat with a box office collection of Rs. 1.4 crore. Although Local Kung Fu had gained a huge popularity among the masses yet it was unable to make success at the box office as it was screened in the movie theatres for only five days. Later, during the release of Local Kung Fu 2, we made a mistake by coinciding with Bahubali 2 and so it could not be a hit movie. Through trial and error, we learned about the timing of when to release a movie so it doesn’t coincide with another big-budget movie. Maybe because of this reason, Local Utpaat movie became a hit.”
“Also, at the time of Local Kung Fu, we got to know about piracy for which the people had access to the movie by downloading it from various websites but during the Local Utpaat, we tried to make sure none of this kind of situation arises,” he added.
Meanwhile, speaking on making a movie with a low budget, Kenny said, “At the time when we made Local Kung Fu, we knew that we did not have a huge budget as we only had Rs. 1 lakh in hand. Whenever people ask me how to make a movie with a low-budget, I advise them to look into the resources they have and in our case, the unique resource we had was that we know martial arts since childhood. Keeping this in mind, we thought of making a movie that has a mixture of comedy and action. And I feel lucky to have talented people in my family itself. With them and a few friends, we made the movie that is still being loved by the masses.”
Kenny saying about his upcoming projects informed that he would start shooting for Local Kung Fu 3 in the winter season this year and will be released in 2024.
When it comes to comedy filmmakers in Assam, people cannot skip Kenny Basumatary’s name from the list and it is going to be exciting to watch him in the role of a commando with Shah Rukh Khan in ‘Jawan’.
