Fahid’s feech therapy

Shahid Kapur whose character in Kaminey uses ‘f’ for ‘s’ took lessons on how to lisp and stammer convincingly

Vishal Bharadwaj is a meticulous filmmaker. Leaving nothing to chance, Vishal took Shahid Kapur, lead actor of his forthcoming film Kaminey, to an ENT Surgeon Dr Prabodh Karnik so that Shahid could convincingly play his role in the film. Since Shahid plays a double role, Charlie who lisps and Guddu who stammers, in Kaminey, Vishal wanted him to understand the two speech defects very well before he faced the camera.A few days before the film went on the floors, the meeting was arranged in Dr Karnik's clinic at Dadar where Vishal and Shahid had long, detailed sittings with the doctor. Vishal and Shahid wanted to understand all about the two speech defects so that the actor could get under the skin of both the characters.Confirming the story, Dr Karnik told Mumbai Mirror, "I know Vishal Bharadwaj. He wanted to know why people stammer and how we evaluate and treat them. We gave them all the information that they were looking for."Shahid confirmed this and said, "Yes, I met Dr Karnik. Vishal is a filmmaker who likes to stick as close as possible to reality. Meeting Dr Karnik helped us a lot. It was a good learning experience. My object was just to make it as believable as possible."After two one-hour-long sittings with Dr Karnik over two days, Vishal and Shahid also went across to the Ali Yavar Jung National Institute for the Hearing Handicapped and the Speech Disabled where Shahid personally interacted with patients who stammer or lisp. "Those sessions were run by an audiologist and speech therapist Dr Sadhana Relekar," said Dr Karnik.Dr Karnik added, "Stammering and stuttering is more prevalent in men. Most kids have a problem in speaking fluently especially in the initial stages of their life, but this problem is further aggravated when parents force their child to speak fluently without stuttering. Such children are susceptible to laryngeal tension, which causes the problem. As for those who lisp, it results due to poor co-ordination between pharynx, mouth and lips."Has Dr Karnik seen the rushes of Kaminey to see the fruits of his teachings? "No. That's not under my purview," said Dr Karnik.When asked to comment on his roles in the film, Shahid said, "Kaminey has been a very challenging experience. I wouldn't say I have a better understanding of speech impaired people that would take some time I think."