Bollywood makes strange bedfellows.

Govinda (TOI photo)

And the latest jodi is Jag Mundhra and Bollywood’s maverick actor and MP Govinda! It was Govinda who approached the ace director and asked him to do his next film Naughty@Forty, a comic caper involving a 40-year-old bachelor who is infatuated by a young girl.

Jag, initially, was reluctant because from the sounds of it, this appeared to be a “Govinda kind of film”. And Jag admitted, “It was low brow, which I’ve never attempted before, I’m more used to the Woody Allen kind of comedy.”

But Govinda persevered, he got Anupam Kher (who is also in the film) to counsel Jag, and soon the director was ready. “Govinda’s films sell big time, I believe, and he placed all his trust in me, which was a great incentive,” said Jag. “He told me that we would be the next hit jodi like David Dhawan and him earlier.”

Jag, who has made films like Provoked, Kamal and Backwater, had offered Govinda a role a few years ago when the actor’s career was on a slump. “But he humbly declined saying he wasn’t in the position to take on a solo film as he wasn’t hot at the box office. I liked his humility,” revealed Jag. But Partner changed Govinda’s fortunes and the actor, along with producer Sanddeep Kapur and Anuj Sharma, went to meet Jag in London and that’s how Naughty@Forty happened. The romantic lead opposite Govinda has yet to be finalised. “We are auditioning,” admitted Jag. Twenty days of shooting in London is over already. The unit now shifts to India. The film has music by Monty Sharma who did Saawariya.