Watch: Aditi Rao Hydari, Neena Gupta give a modern twist to the tale of Mahabharata

Remember the writer of Delhi Belly, Akshat Verma? He is back with his modern take on Mahabharata. Mama’s Boys is the story of the five Pandavas, with a very modern take on the characters. Bhima and Hidimbiare both gym buffs and enjoy protein shakes, Nakula and Sahadeva are fashion designers who want to keep their sexuality hidden from their mother who is keen to get them married off. The most notable characters are Aditi Rao Hydari’s Draupadi and Neena Gupta playing Kunti. In a displaced attempt at feminism, the director attempts to justify her being apportioned in fifths to each brother by trying to imply Draupadi manipulates situations to her advantage. [caption id=“attachment_2994590” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  A still from the short film. Image via Youtube[/caption] Neena Gupta seems to echo the stubborn Punjabi mother who has five lovable sons to look after and does it with equal dosage of love and disdain. But Hydari seems to have enjoyed shooting the short. “We all have read Mahabharata. When I read the script, it was like a spicy spin on the story and portrayed Draupadi in a very funky way. Normally we see Draupadi as a strong courageous woman. Here she is funny and playing a character like this, was really amusing,” Aditi said at the screening of the film to IANS. “The film is a gen-next Mahabharata. Working in this short film was absolute fun. I couldn’t stop myself from laughing constantly at the set. I think I gave them a really hard time. One can see a story from a different angle. Moreover, if you go deeper into it what he (Akshat) wants to say comes out to be absolutely right. So I feel giving it a lighter version is really entertaining,” the Murder 3 actress said. Sharing her experience of working with legendary actress Neena Gupta who plays Kunti in the film, Aditi, 29 told IANS, “She is an amazing actress. Actually, she was the cause of my laughter. She was delivering hilarious dialogues in a deadpan face. The way she says her line is insane. I don’t know how she does that. It seems so simple for her,” she said. Upon being asked about her upcoming projects, the actress replied, “I am currently shooting for Mani Ratnam sir’s film which is like a dream coming true for me. I can’t tell you too much about it as we are in the middle of the shooting. Apart from that, I’ve Sudhir (Mishra) sir’s film which is ready. Hopefully, that gets released soon and not get stuck in the kind of things that happen with films.” Aditi’s next with Sudhir Mishra is again a modern and a different take on Devdas. Mama’s Boys is also the last time we will see Razak Khan, who passed away in June 2016 , make a small appearance as Shakuni Mama.

(With agency inputs)