Priyadarshan has done it all. His Hindi film career might have been overshadowed by comedies in the early 2000s (Hera Pheri, 2000; Hungama, 2003; Hulchul, 2004) but some hard-hitting romantic-dramas (Kyon Ki…,2005), some social-thrillers (Aakrosh, 2010) and some actioners (Tezz, 2012), still managed to seep in. The director’s southern works have been more varied with period dramas like Kaalapaani (1996) and Kanchivaram (2008) in the mix. “In the last 45 years, I have tried every genre of cinema,” says Priyadarshan, now in his 70th birth-year, gearing up for his 100th film for which he will be reuniting with long-time collaborator Mohanlal. Before that, however, he has two other polar opposite projects coming up: a horror-comedy titled Bhooth Bangla, for which he is bringing back the rip-roaring comedy ensemble of Akshay Kumar, Paresh Rawal, Rajpal Yadav and the late Asrani, and Haiwaan, a remake of his 2016 psychological thriller Oppam, in which Saif Ali Khan and Akshay will be engaged in a cat-n-mouse chase. “The thing is if you only make comedy films, you are not taken seriously as a director,” he says. “So, I did period-dramas, thrillers, romantic films, even some art-house projects but they always had a tinge of comedy in it,” he says. “That humour is the reason I have succeeded and sustained so far.”
Priyadarshan describes Bhooth Bangla as a “fantasy film” but not without logic. “I don’t believe in fooling audiences,” he says. “I mean, we do exaggerate at times but here I have used a logic based on our Indian folklore. It’s a horror-comedy, sometimes you feel tense and sometimes you feel like laughing. I think I have done a good combination of both.” But comedy is a serious business. How does he assess if a particular scene is “funny”? “I believe that while filming a comic scene if the unit laughs, audiences won’t,” says Priyadarshan. “I ask my actors to be as serious as possible. They don’t have to make faces. I don’t like double-meaning dialogues. The situation itself should be funny and if the punchline lands, that’s a bonus.” The filmmaker states that it’s still easier to make horror-comedies than pure laugh-out-loud films. “In a horror film or any other serious film, a minor joke can also get you a big laugh,” he explains. “In an out-and-out comedy you really have to push the humour because the viewers have come prepared to laugh and their expectations are quite high. In a horror-comedy the scares get them nervous and then they like to crack up to ease some of that tension.”
Bhooth Bangla marks Priyadarshan’s reunion with Akshay Kumar after 16 years (their last film together was the social-drama-comedy Khatta Meetha in 2010). Their collaboration started with Hera Pheri (2000), where the filmmaker discovered the actor’s impeccable comic timing. “There is a common man sensibility in Akshay. His body language isn’t graceful, it is very everyday and that’s what makes you laugh,” says Priyadarshan. “I feel he is better received by audiences in a realistic than a larger-than-life role.” The director goes on to explain how Akshay and his Bhooth Bangla co-star Paresh Rawal are different in their approaches towards comedy. “Paresh has a theatre background,” he says. “He is used to getting immediate reaction from the audiences and thus can anticipate better how viewers will receive anything he does on screen. Akshay, on the other hand, goes completely by the script.”
Audience response can be tricky as well. With improved sensibilities, viewers have become more discerning in the kind of comedy they consume. Priyadarshan’s own films like Garam Masala (2005), where Akshay and John Abraham swindle between three women, if released today might not get a favourable feedback. Does increase in discourse make creating comedies difficult? “Comedy can’t be at the expense of those less powerful than you,” he explains. “If sometimes, the situation in the film is like that, people can still digest it, but if you purposely criticise somebody or you get into these sex comedies, then it can become an issue. Me? I make harmless comedies. There is a child in everybody, I make movies for that child.”