Anees Bazmee's films are not mindless

Bollywood’s busiest director defends that his films are not mindless and why his entire cast has a reunion in the climax.
One of the busiest directors in Bollywood, Anees Bazmee is ready with another laugh riot No Problem continuing his comedy legacy of No Entry, Welcome and Singh is Kinng. “It’s not like I plan to make only comedy films. I was working on a love story and a suspense film in between but unfortunately that never materialized”, defends Anees.“I am absolutely comfortable with any genre. In fact many believe that my best film till date is Pyaar To Hona Hi Tha which was a love story or Deewangee which was a suspense thriller. I guess destiny had different plans for me and all my films that came out are only comedy ones”.
Talking about his latest film No Problem Anees says, “It has two thieves, one police, one villain, one monkey, one mad wife, one mad girlfriend, dacoits and diamonds”. Perhaps that’s what you call a masala film. “Like you have seven notes in music and its proper combination can give you countless tunes, I have multiple characters in my film and using them properly can make a great story”.
But why are all his films multi-starrers? “Writing and directing a multi-starrer is a rigorous job. But there is an immense sense of enjoyment in making them as much as the audiences enjoy seeing the stars together. Again I don’t start with a set plan to make multi-starrers but the kind of stories that I write need to many characters”, explains the director. “I am a simple and honest person and actors who work with me know that I won’t favour any particular person. So it becomes easier for me to get the stars together. They all know that I am passionate about filmmaking and would work only towards the betterment of it”.
Another trademark of an Anees Bazmee film is its climax where the entire cast including even the junior artists comes together. “The climax of the film is the peak of the narrative. When I make comedies, the humour starts from scene one itself. So by the time the film reaches its climax, it becomes important to take the graph of the film to that peak point. And I believe if you don’t bring all the characters together in the climax, what’s the point of having them in the story”. The same shall be true for No Problem where all characters are in a do or die situation in the climax.
Isn’t Kangana, who is known for her intense performance, an unusual casting for a comedy film? “I have seen Kangana do all the drug-addict and alcoholic characters she is known for”, laughs Anees. “But when she expressed this strong desire to do a comedy film, I wanted to give her a chance seeing her passion and confidence. After seeing her in the film, I feel why anybody didn’t think of casting her in a comedy role so far. She has fantastic comic timing”.
One common perception about Anees Bazmee is that he sticks to directing slapsticks and churn mindless comedies that defy logic. “I think this is misconception of a certain sect. I insist that none of my films are brainless. In fact I have to use a lot of brain to write such films”, defends the director. “My films are not of the kind where you have to leave your brains behind. I would like these so-called intelligent people to carry their brains with them while watching my film and point out anything that defies logic in my films”.
Bazmee has also become a sequel king of sorts with announcements being made that he would be directing the sequels to No Entry, Mr India, Here Pheri and Singh is Kinng. He confirms working on two of them. “We have started work on Hera Pheri 4. No Entry Mein Entry will be the sequel to No Entry. We had contemplated of naming it Be Positive earlier. Mr India 2 didn’t materialize. And I haven’t been approached for the sequel of Singh is Kinng by its producers though I would love to make it”.
And while he is busy with multiple projects, Anees has hardly seen about 4-5 Hindi films in the last ten years. “I consciously don’t watch many films because I don’t want that to influence my subconscious when I work on my films. When you watch too many films, you start analyzing how audiences react to a particular scene. Then you start calculating while writing and directing. If I direct a scene which has already been done several times earlier, but if I am unaware of the same, I will direct it with the passion and excitement as if it’s being made for the first time”, signs off the busy B(azm)ee.
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