‘MMCH is a tale of friendship, love, betrayal and a murder mystery’

When Meghana Raj and Samyukta Hornad joined music director Sridhar V Sambhram and producer Purushottam for a chat with us about their upcoming film, MMCH, the two ladies, who were apparently the most playful bullies on set, tried to put on a Miss Goody Two Shoes show for a while, only to ditch it and show us just how much their camaraderie has grown in the course of making the film.Excerpts from the conversation during which they told us more about MMCH...
Since the film and its rather intriguing title was announced, the team has been tightlipped about what MMCH means. With the film set to release soon, can you shed some light on that?
Samyukta: MMCH is like Inception and has multiple meanings. I will give you one and Meghana another. It could stand for Mysuru, Mandya, Chamarajnagar and Hassan — so, that’s one. And two... (trails off and looks hopefully at Meghana)
Meghana: I can’t give that away.
Samyukta: But you can tell our character names, right? Megha...
Meghana: I think I should take over, else, before we finish this interaction she will tell you the whole story (laughs). Honestly, everyone who watches the film can have his or her interpretation of the title. It is a thriller, revolving around four girls from different backgrounds who’ve come to Bengaluru to study...
Samyukta: The class they study is also MMCH. Yeah, it’s true... they study Math, Chemistry, History and one more subject, and that is why the class is also MMCH.
Meghana: I don’t know which film she is talking about.
Samyukta: Really!
Meghana: In our film there is no class.
Samyukta: But didn’t we go to college? It’s been a while since we shot the film and Meghana has probably forgotten.
Purushottam: Actually, MMCH is a story of friendship, about trust, love and betrayal, along with a murder mystery. The film is set in the 80s and explores how these girls find their way out of the trouble they get into. It is a complete family entertainer, with some great music and background score by Sridhar (V Sambhram). Most importantly, we have five leading ladies with unique characters in a two-hour movie.
Samyukta: It is based on a true story.
Meghana: When these four girls come to Bengaluru, their lives change after a particular incident and there is no going back from that.
Samyukta: One small incident becomes the most important thing that happens in their lives.
Meghana: Despite the challenges, what the girls do to come out of it forms the rest of the story. But will life go back to how it was before? Will their friendship stay strong or will that one incident lead to a very devastating end? You will have to watch the film to figure that out.
Samyukta: Will friends support each other when they are in trouble or will they be selfish and run away? That’s the basic premise.
In a real-life scenario, if you guys were in a situation like that, how would you react? Would you run away?
Meghana: I don’t think so.
Sridhar: One would think that the best deal is to run away. But MMCH shows you how people who are really close to each other stick together and fight their way out.
The music of MMCH is a big draw...
Purushottam: Two songs from the album definitely need to be highlighted here — the ones sung by Shreya Ghoshal and Kailash Kher. We had to wait three months to get Shreya on board and Kailash also was in London at the time.
Sridhar: There is a beautiful harmony in the relationship that the four girls share in the film. Musically, when we explored the different situations in the film, we thought we should have individual songs for each of them, but then wondered how it would be if we had all of them in one song. I composed a song called Megha Megha (proceeds to sing a few lines along with the rest of the team). Shreya is outstanding in this number and I enjoyed working with her. The icing on the cake is that the picturisation is also beautiful with the four ladies. The location is outstanding. In fact, director Mussanje Mahesh had shot one sequence of the climax of Mussanje Mathu in the same place.
Honestly, when I saw the film, what struck me was the sequence in the High Court and its proceedings, and I realised how little I knew about the justice system. What they do in the court scene... (Meghana cuts him off)
Meghana: I really have to make sure that these two don’t give away the entire plot.
Samyukta: The thing is, these girls believe in what they say — injustice has happened to us, so we will stand by each other and in what we believe in. That takes immense courage and strength, and they give each other the strength. The film is about doing what you think is right. They don’t worry about what their families will think and stay together and fight.
Samyukta has been very vocal about how much she liked the action sequences in the film...
Samyukta: Oh yes, I got to punch and kick a lot of men in this film. I don’t know if I will ever be able to do it in real life. During the shoot, I was very happy punching my way around that I was actually smiling instead of having an angry grim expression. So much so that Mahesh sir had to ask for multiple retakes. I was just enjoying myself too much.
Purushottam: The stunt master, Kaurava Venkatesh, has worked in over 1,500 films, but on our set, he actually came to me and said that this was the easiest job for him, because all the four ladies were doing their stunts so well that he hardly had anything to do.
Meghana: We were so excited, as doing action was a first for all of us and we weren’t sure if we would ever get another opportunity like that.
Samyukta: I really hope I get to beat up more men.
Meghana: It doesn’t mean that the action is over the top and you see guys flying in the air if we just touched them. It’s very realistic. It’s a reaction in having to defend yourself and is very believable, and happens because of a certain situation.
Samyukta: In fact, our movements don’t even seem correct or as though we have practised it. It was like a proper streetfight.
It is not often that you see heroines gel together so well and you two seem to have a special bond...
Samyukta: You should actually ask Chiru (Meghana’s husband Chiranjeevi Sarja) about that. During the making, we had tweeted to him that we are eloping and he responded saying that as long as Meghana is going with Samyukta, he has no problem whatsoever. She is in safe hands with me.
And it’s not only the two of you; the entire cast has great camaraderie going on...
Samyukta: Actually, Meghana and I don’t rag anyone.
Meghana: She is such a liar.
Samyukta: We didn’t go after Deepthi at all (grins). Meghana taught me what to do. She told me to say certain things and if anyone cried on the set it is because Meghana asked me to do it.
Meghana: Oh yes, I take complete responsibility. But on a serious note, working with Samyukta, Prathama (Prasad) and Deepthi was a blessing for me. Prathama is my childhood friend and Samyukta was my junior in college. I didn’t really know Deepthi very well before the film, but now she is also a good friend.
Usually, when you are done with a film, you move on with your lives and don’t stay in touch. But, through this film, I can proudly say that I have gained three very good friends, who are very close to me (ribs Samyukta).
Samyukta: I have always liked Meghana. I think she has worked with my mother (Sudha Belawadi) earlier. On set, it was nice to see that nobody came with any sort of baggage and everyone was quite chilled out. We were all actually supporting each other. In fact, for the climax sequence, we had a six-page dialogue, which we sat together and rehearsed.
We had no problems and even when we said things in jest, no one took anything to heart, which is rare. I have worked with different actresses on other films and it was never this comfortable. There was some kind of a connect. We even began sharing inside jokes.
But you two were the bullies on set...
Meghana: Yes, I can proudly say that.
Samyukta: I may have made someone cry, but it was not intentional; it was because Meghana told me to.
Meghana: I didn’t do anything like that. I used to do very safe bullying on Deepthi, you took it to another level.
Samyukta: Wow! Meghana only told me to tell Deepthi that she had been mouthing lyrics wrong, so I did.
Meghana: Oh yeah, that time she actually got very upset.
Samyukta: Otherwise, I am a very nice girl. I do stuff only if I am told to do so by Meghana. She is like the don of MMCH.
Meghana: One of the M’s of MMCH is mafia.
Samyukta: And one for Muddu, which is Deepthi.
Meghana: C is for Chatri — Samyukta.
Samyukta: H for Prathama, umm.... Homely, perhaps.
Tell us also about your co-star Ragini Dwivedi...
Samyukta: The four of us don’t have too many scenes with her. She is the officer who investigates our case. But I have known Ragini for a while, so it was quite chilled out on set.
Meghana: This was my first time working with her, although we are good friends off screen. Whatever little screen time we have together was nice.
Samyukta: I think we had only one scene with all five of us.