Vinay Virmani admits to feeling a little pressure when it came to deciding what to do for his follow-up to his feature debut "Breakaway," the hockey comedy he starred in, produced, co-wrote in 2011. As luck would have it though, inspiration came in the form of a cab ride from an Indian doctor-turned-taxi-driver. From there, "Dr. Cabbie" was born, attracting an international cast in Adrianne Palicki ("G.I. Joe: Retaliation") and Kunal Nayyar ("Big Bang Theory") and Quebecois director Jean-François Pouliot for his first English-language film.
Telling the story of a young Indian MD who immigrates to Canada only to find out that his degree doesn't transfer, the film stars Virmani as Deepak, who's forced to take a job as a cab driver to make ends meet. But his desire to do good is spurred by a chance encounter with an expecting mom (Palicki), leading Deepak to turn his cab into a mobile medical clinic.
With the feel-good comedy premiering on September 19, Moviefone Canada sat down with Virmani to talk about finding laughs in a serious subject, why he and Nayyar had to be routinely shushed on set, and what it was like getting confused for a real cabbie between takes.
Moviefone Canada: You produced, co-wrote, and starred in "Dr. Cabbie." Is there any of one of those jobs that you find the most fun?
Vinay Virmani: I just enjoy it all. It all comes together when you see a project from a little idea -- which was taking this cab ride in downtown Toronto, that's what the genesis of the idea was. I met this Indian gentleman in his late 30s and he told me his story about how he used to be a doctor in India, he was a surgeon and how he came over, the issues. And hearing his story of heartbreak, I learned something that night, and that was never let anybody take your dream away from you. I mean, that's really the most shattering thing, when somebody can take away a dream that you've had. That's why the whole idea came about, and that's why I wanted to keep Deepak young. When I create a film, it's not that I think, "OK, I want to act in it." It just so happened that I did "Breakaway" and "Breakaway" did well, and people felt I could be in this film as well. But we wanted to keep him young because we wanted to show that, as a young person, a dream, how important it is and to not let any obstacle or hurdle come in the way of that. The whole premise was here's a guy who says I don't need a clinic to take care of people, to heal people. I have the backseat of my cab and I can do the same thing here.
Did you feel any added pressure after making "Breakaway?" What made you want to choose this story to be your follow-up?
I felt a lot of pressure after "Breakaway," for a number of reasons. The film, from a Canadian standpoint, was considered a successful film. It was considered a very important film from a cultural standpoint, bringing together the country's national sport, putting it together in a cross-cultural context. The film was very successful on the Canadian high school rounds. For two years in a row, I think over 150 schools in Canada requested to see it. The whole turban/helmet issue preceded the issue that happened in Quebec, so I had the Minister of Sport contacting me, coming out to Montreal to speak about that issue and showing the film out in Montreal. It was amazing. And that to me is the real success of a film, when it speaks beyond the box office, that it can get into a social issue. So I wanted to make sure that people had a lot of faith in me, as a producer, as an actor, as a writer, so that's why "Dr. Cabbie," I really took my time. I had to put together a project that was commercial in its approach, that I felt the studio could sell, but at the end of the day, that it had something to say.
But originally, this script started out as more of slapstick comedy, right?
Originally, the film was extremely slapstick, and then we toned it down. But we all knew from the very beginning that we wanted to make a broad comedy with an important social message. Because at one point, the film does take a very dramatic turn, which does catch audiences off-guard. Because it's all fun and games up to a certain point, but for me, I've always enjoyed the feeling of going to a movie theatre and watching a comedy. There's something about it, which I can't really describe, but it's such a special experience when you're sitting in a group of 500 strangers in a theatre on a Friday, Saturday night, different nationalities, different ages, but you're laughing at the same material. It's a unifying experience, and that's really special to me. And I said I want to do the same thing with "Dr. Cabbie." I want to move people, and I want to bring a spotlight to this issue, but I want to do it in a way in which we can all enjoy. I think that's what our goal was, to create a film that has something for everybody in it.
Obviously, since this is a love story, it's important that you have great chemistry with Adrianne Palicki, but you have some pretty great chemistry with Kunal Nayyar too.
It's easy to have great chemistry with Kunal. I think we were having a bigger love affair off-set. [Laughs]
Was that instantaneous?
I'll be honest with you, this business sometimes is very tricky, and I'm still new to it. I'm not from a movie background, or an acting background. So I've worked with a lot of actors now, and made a lot of friends. But "film friends" is a very loose term. You become friends on a set, and you're like, OK, yeah, we're buds. And then after your shot, one actor goes there, the other goes there. [Laughs] But with Kunal, it was so different. And it was just such a unique experience to meet a co-actor who's around the same age as you, no insecurities between us, no inhibitions, no guard, no nothing. We talked on the phone after he read the script, we discussed some notes, we discussed some ideas and we hit it off instantly. And the first night he landed, we went out for dinner and it was like we're long-lost brothers. And we've wrapped now for over a year, we text each other once every couple of days, and we're always in touch. Even on set, we were being shushed like little boys. Our ADs were like, "Guys, you need to be quiet now. You need to focus." And there's scenes where I'm so serious and I'm biting the inside of my cheek just to stop laughing.
You've got a lot of real scene-stealers in "Dr. Cabbie." Do you think people realize how tough it is to play the straight man in a movie like this?
The straight man is the hardest thing to play! Because in this world of "Dr. Cabbie," my character is like the only sane person. The aunt is out to lunch, and the uncle's nuts, and the mom is just going through her own little transformation. And Kunal and even some of the patients. [Laughs] And the other cabbies. So yeah, being the straight man's tough. Sometimes it feels the most boring on-set, because you're like, Aw man, I want that one-liner, or I want the joke. I want that "Once you go brown, you'll never frown" line. [Laughs]
But no, it was fun. I knew that going into it, and this film is not my film, it's an ensemble film. It really is. I've never felt like, Oh, I'm the star of "Dr. Cabbie." Never. The star of this film is the cast. The film, I hope it gets appreciated, I hope audiences like it. And if they do, it's only because of the cast. It's because of people like Mircea Monroe, who plays Rani, or Adrianne Palicki, who's brought so much to Natalie, who's so different! I mean, everybody's only seen her in "G.I. Joe" or "Legion," big action films. Kunal's so different, and so refreshing. So yeah, I just hope people enjoy the ensemble.
And you all get to show off some serious dance moves too.
Yeah, that was fun. Look, wherever there's going to be Indian people, you know there's going to be a bit of a Bollywood song and dance. And it was fun filming that, it felt like a big party that day.
Who was the best dancer of the bunch?
Kunal. Kunal lets go. See, I had to be a bit reserved, because it's my character. So I have to dance the way a nerdy doctor would. He's not too good, but he's trying. But Kunal just let it all go. And Kunal rapped in Punjabi as well. He breaks out into a big impromptu rap, which is cool.
What took longer for you to learn, the dance moves or the medical lingo and mannerisms?
Definitely the medical lingo was tough. Delivering a baby, watching all that footage, which I don't recommend for anybody. [Laughs] But it was interesting because that day, when we filmed the delivery scene in the back of the cab, it was probably one of the most challenging things. And I've done ice hockey stuff, for 16 hours a day on my skates getting the s**t kicked out of me, but doing that was beyond anything. Because you're in this little cab, it's raining, it's hot, it's humid, you're filming overnight, and it's the three of us: me, Adrianne and Kunal in this little cab. And we have little cameras everywhere, and then Kunal was operating a camera as well. Hot, sweaty, Adrianne, poor girl, has to have her legs in the air for 12 hours with these two goofballs that can't keep a straight face, and she's screaming and her voice is giving out. It was a really tough scene, but we're really happy with it. I think that for me is my favourite scene in the film, that delivery scene is just chaotic, it's fun. It's suspenseful and it took us two days to film that so I hope people enjoy that scene. And that's really the incident that sets off the film, that scene.
Did you do much filming in the cab out on the streets?
We did. We did a lot of guerrilla stuff, and we closed off some big streets, like Yonge and Dundas, which was really cool. And it was great, because some of those things have Kunal in it, so people would be like, "Raj! Raj! Raj!" [Laughs] And these crowds would gather around. Filming in Toronto was amazing, playing a Toronto cabbie was great. A couple times during takes people thought I was an actual cabbie, which was cool.
Did anyone try to get in the cab?
Yeah, because we were filming, so you have your ADs holding you on the street, so you're just sitting idle. And one or two times, people would actually hop in the car and they'd be like, "OK, I need to go to wherever." And I'd be like, "Um, I'm actually filming a movie right now." And they'd be like, "What? Come on. Go, go, go." And then the AD would go, "Ma'am, we're filming a movie." [Laughs] That actually happened a couple of times. But I was just proud to play a Toronto cabbie. I mean, cab drivers are ambassadors for any city that they're in. So I was honoured to play that. Now, every time I step in a cab, it's a different perspective altogether.
"Dr. Cabbie" opens on September 19 in Canadian theatres.
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