The film shows the nexus among real estate magnates, bureaucracy, news media & businesses with humor that resonates to this day!

Sudhir Mishra was the assistant director of JBDY.

He claims that most actors on the set thought that the movie was “worst” and only changed their opinion after looking at the first cut. (and who wouldn’t, really!)

The movie drew its inspiration from Italian filmmaker Michelangelo Antonioni’s Blow-up.

In fact, the makers pay a tribute to Antonioni in this scene 👇

As Jai Arjun Singh has told us, the original screenplay of the film was  titled ‘Opening Ceremony’.

The film memorably opens with Naseeruddin Shah and Ravi Baswani trying to attract customers to their newly opened photo studio.

There are many translations of the title in English some of these are Just Let It Go, Chums, Let Sleeping Dogs Lie, and Who Pays the Piper.

Originally, the script also had a conversation between Satish Kaushik, Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher.

JBDY was going to be @AnupamPKher’s first film.

He was going to play a character called ‘Disco Killer’. Someone who had an eye sight problem.

This in our opinion, would have been quite a ‘Killer’ character.

JRD Tata makes an interesting appearance in this film.

During the inauguration of the bridge/flyover — that plays an important role in the film — you see this indictment of money in politics by JRD Tata.

Vidhu Vinod Chopra and Sudhir Mishra were not only the names of the protagonists played by Naseeruddin Shah and Ravi Baswani, but also the assistant directors of the film

The film was made on a shoe-string budget and the stinginess continued after the release of the film.

The actors expecting to be welcomed free for the premier, were surprised when Kundan Shah tried selling the tickets to them.

The film was made on a shoe-string budget and the stinginess continued after the release of the film.

The actors expecting to be welcomed free for the premier, were surprised when Kundan Shah tried selling the tickets to them.

Kundan Shah’s commitment to making JBDY is undeniable.

He said no to an offer to be a part of the crew for Richard Attenborough’s Gandhi — primarily as a “crowd-controller”. He turned down this offer (with plum salary!) to write his script for JBDY!

Kundan Shah also thought about sequel to JBDY. One version of this was based on  Dostoevsky’s ‘Dream of a Ridiculous Man’.

As @jaiarjun notes this in remarkable book: Jaane Bhi do Yaaro: Seriously Funny since 1983

“Vinod and Sudhir—released from prison after twenty-five years—discuss a dream in which they fly through space and land on just such a paradise. No Tarnejas, Ahujas, underhanded deals or collapsing bridges; no exploitation of the helpless by the powerful.”

Epic quote by Ravi Baswani to end the thread.

“I should have died after that film. I might have become the James Dean of India, a legend. Kya actor tha, they would have said, just two films and then he died…. But that didn’t happen. Anyway, jaane bhi do, yaaro.”