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It was an intimate Sunday evening with select media-persons. The venue: Jeetendra’s royal bungalow, Krishna. Correction: the terrace of Krisha, complete with closed and open chambers, cool air, hot food and chilled beverages.
The icing(s) on this Balaji Telefilms cake? Two of them—the trailer, and co-producer Ektaa R, Kapoor. The trailer was shown to us a day before its formal, public release on April 6.
The mini-theatre saw us watching the rocker of a trailer, showcasing a fitting Hindi comeback (after a series of duds!) to the supremely comic entertainer named Priyadarshan, in combination after some 15 years with his fave comic actor, Akshay Kumar, now doubling up also as a co-producer. And their Haiwaan and Hera Pheri 3 are on the way as well!
The trailer, as hilarious as the Priyan comedies, was a riot of entertainment, one-liners, terrific actors and the mandatory (as per the title!) horror element. Akshay Kumar, Tabu (shown minimally, but there is method in this strategy!), Wamiqa Gabbi, Paresh Rawal, Rajpal Yadav and the late Asrani.
A few weeks back, at the same venue, the first song, Ramji aake bhala karenge had been showcased, one crazy track that will be used during the end-credit titles of the film, as per Kapoor. That song was very much a part of the trailer as well and is a whacky Akshay Kumar romp with zombies who are described as bhooth (ghosts)—fair, dark, male, female et al—of various kinds!
Speaking of Asrani, who had luckily completed his work on the film before he passed on, Kapoor fondly remembered how, 30 years ago when her brother Tusshar and she would accompany their father to his shoots, the actor would be usually in the cast and was the only one to come and sit chatting with the kids for as long as an hour or more!
As for Akshay Kumar, she revealed that he was a master at Acupressure and had relieved her of severe pain in the back and neck by rubbing her palm at specific points, while warning her that the pain would initially increase!
She also revealed that a song filmed on Tabu was not released as it would probably give away the story, stating that her writer had done the script. When she took it to the director, he stated that he would retain the basic core but rewrite the film. And when he did so, the mutual actor they chose was Akshay Kumar!
The film also marks Priyadarshan’s reunion with composer Pritam after Khatta Meetha in 2010.
Past and Forthcoming Priyadarshan films with Akshay Kumar (Successes / Hits in BOLD)
- Hera Pheri (2000)
- Garam Masala (2005)
- Bhagam Bhag (2006)
- Bhool Bhulaiyaa (2007)
- De Dana Dan (2009)
- Khatta Meetha (2010)
Forthcoming Films
- Haiwaan
- Hera Pheri 3
