Writers are the only community of artistes who create something from absolute nothingness. So when Aakash Kaushik got the opportunity to pen the dialogues of the upcoming horror comedy 'Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2', the task though a bit easier, was still daunting as he had to keep up with the first instalment of the franchise for the impact of its dialogues still reigns supreme after almost 15 years of its release.
The film, which stars Tabu, Kartik Aaryan, Kiara Advani and Rajpal Yadav, takes a different route from its first part which was a psychological horror comedy. What were the key factors that influenced the dialogues, the casting of the film, his ability to infuse humour with the scariest of situations; Aakash spoke about all of these in a recent conversation with a news agency.
The process of working on the sequel entailed a natural pressure to be in line with the success of the first part as Aakash says, "The pressure has been there. 'Bhool Bhulaiyaa' is a cult film, it had a great concept which was filmed in multiple languages. So there was an added pressure on me as this is my original concept. But I used that pressure to my advantage."
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He gave three years of his life to this script and did everything in his capacity to ensure that the team behind 'Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2' could match up to the level of the first part.
"As far as the cast is concerned, we got whoever we wanted. Kartik, Kiara and Tabu maam were our first choices. And they have done a magnificent job. Hopefully we won't disappoint anyone", he adds.
For him, the genre of comedy is quite comforting as comedy comes naturally to him, "I look at life through the prism of humour. However, I am more into situational comedy. I enjoy writing situations which are funny yet realistic. I enjoy dark humour too. You shall be seeing the same in my future projects."
With the Internet emerging as an unstoppable force, it has changed the rules of the content game considerably and Aakash looks at it as a tool that an artiste can use to hone their skills and to render a definitive edge to their artwork.
He mentions, "The Internet plays a massive role. It's a huge help while researching on any subject. If you follow the right sources, then you can find credible information about anything under the sun. It really helps in understanding things and places which otherwise might have been difficult. That helps in shaping the script in an authentic way. Also, the Internet brings you closer to the audience. It makes it easier to understand their pulse."
Ask him if he would like to challenge himself and move on to a different line of cinema like middle-of-the-road or parallel cinema, and he responds, "I don't really understand this differentiation between commercial and parallel cinema. For me it's either a good film or a bad film. While many might call 'Gangs of Wasseypur' parallel cinema, for me it is one of the most commercial and entertaining films of recent times."
"Having said that, I do want to write in different genres. I don't want to get stuck in any particular type of movies", he concluded.
'Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2' helmed by Anees Bazmee and produced by Bhushan Kumar, is set to arrive in theaters on May 20.
