Cast of ‘Cash’ talk about demonetisation, their characters and comedy in tragedy

Mumbai : ‘Cash’, a satire centering on the landmark event of demonetisation, released recently on Disney+ Hotstar.The film stars Amol Parashar, Smriti Kalra, Kavin Dave, Gulshan Grover and Swanand Kirkire in key roles and follows the story of an entrepreneur, who plans to make it big amidst the chaos of demonetisation.Amol Parashar, Smriti Kalra and Kavin Dave spoke with IANS about the film and its intent. This is the first time Amol is playing the lead. The actor, who has impressed the audience with his performances in TVF’s ‘Tripling’ and Alankrita Shrivastava’s ‘Dolly Kitty Aur Woh Chamakte Sitare’, feels the pressure but is hopeful that the audience will appreciate the efforts of the team.Amol says, “This time, it’s a little special for me, because this time responsibility is on our shoulders. We have given our 100 per cent to the film. I always told Rishabh and Aarsh (the writers) that this is one of the funniest scripts that I’ve read. Now, if we have done enough justice, if it is 80 per cent there, it is going to be quite a fun film to watch, keeping our fingers crossed.”The film is not based on an imagined past but an actual event which equally affected everyone in the country.

Recollecting the experience of those days, Smriti says, “I remember when this happened, I was by myself and I looked through my window and the road was filled with people, who were running pillar to post. They were going to all possible places to make purchases and flush out their old Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes, some were getting triple ration.”She adds, “All the money that the elders had saved over the years in their homes, was finding its way out. Likewise, you will see a lot of funny instances in the film about the places where people had kept their money.”The movie, essentially a satire presents an oblique comment of how people escaped the checks. But, in reality at the same time there were a lot of people who went through an ordeal to exchange their notes.When asked what they feel about the relationship between ordeal and humour, Kavin says, “Every tragedy has a comedy in it. Yeah. The film simply presents the tragedy that happens with these characters during demonetisation.”Smriti adds, “The film doesn’t poke fun at the ordeal that people went through during demonetisation, we are just presenting it in a humorous way. It’s about facts in a lighter vein of what all people did during that time to convert their money.”Amol echoes his co-actors’ thoughts as he says, “It has come out in the news also that over 90 per cent of money is back in circulation, which means people have managed to convert their money. So, this is a story about people who are trying to convert a large sum of money and all the various tools that they use for the purpose.””Our characters in the film are not bad people, it’s just that they’re trying to make money off other people’s tricky situations, like how young people can be opportunistic sometimes. It’s a funny take on how greed always gets you into trouble”, Amol said.