Legendary Peter Sellers improvised his role using only Director Blake Edwards' 50 page film outline with no set scripted dialogue. Sellers is left to devise and improvise each scene. This required assembling a highly competent ensemble of supporting actors capable of keeping up with Peter, and they pulled it off very well. Larry David uses this same approach in his 'Curb Your Enthusiasm' in case you did not know.
The film's scenes were largely shot in sequence to preserve the comic flow, allowing Sellers to figure out what astoundingly destructive comic mess his character Hrundi Bakshi (the character being an actor brought in from India to lend authenticity to a period film) would innocently create next for his Hollywood producer boss while shooting the film on location, and the "big man" president of the studio, whose Beverly Hills VIP party Bakshi inadvertently gets an invite to attend.
Truly hilarious deadpanned slapstick scenes abound - one of the most memorable being the "Birdie Num Nums" bit.
This movie has captured an ever growing number of fans over the years, myself included.
One may be offended by the cliche' India culture stereotyping Sellers applies via his character's mannerisms and accent, but If you want to be compelled to laugh out-loud, this may be just the ticket.
