Farhad Samji on Varun Dhawan’s next which is ‘all about entertainment’, Tiger Shroff’s third rebellious outing and kicking off Rohit Shetty’s new cop film today
Himesh Mankad (MUMBAI MIRROR; May 6, 2019)

Farhad Samji started his Bollywood journey as a lyricist in 2002 with David Dhawan’s Hum Kisise Kum Nahin, and 17 years later, is one of the most sought-after writers. Known for scripting films like Ready, Bol Bachchan, Simmba, as also the Golmaal, Housefull and Singham franchises, Farhad brought in his 44th birthday on Sunday with five films in his kitty, including Laaxmi Bomb, Baaghi 3, Coolie No 1 and Sooryavanshi as writer and Housefull 4 as director.

Quiz him on how he brought in his special day and he says birthdays are usually boring because he doesn’t like late-night parties. “I’m a simple person who follows Akshay Kumar’s lifestyle and I am asleep by 10 pm. So, I spent the weekend at a hill station with my wife (Zukhruf) and son (Faizal). It was a detox break from work,” he laughs.

He flashbacks to when they were shooting for Golmaal 3 in Goa on his birthday. “I was in my room, waiting for someone to remember, till 9 pm, then, thinking they’d forgotten, I was getting ready for bed, when Rohit called asking me to come down and tweak the scene being shot. I did, only to find the set decorated and everyone, including Ajay (Devgn) and Kareena (Kapoor) waiting for me to cut the cake,” he smiles at the memory.

Quiz him on his current workload and how he’s juggling so many films and he says it’s all about planning. He was working on Akshay’s horror-comedy, Laaxmi Bomb, for almost a year and the first draft was ready long ago. Contrary to speculations, he informs that the film is not an adaptation of Kanchana or Kanchana 3 but the official remake of Muni 2: Kanchana, the biggest Tamil hit of 2011. “My job was to make sure the film looked as fresh as the original which released eight years ago. I have adapted several remakes like Judwaa 2 and Singham keeping today’s sensibilities in mind. It will showcase Akshay in a completely new light,” he promises.

Right now, Farhad is focused on Sooryavanshi and Baaghi 3. The former, which sees Akshay entering Rohit’s cop universe, and is set for an Eid 2020 release, goes on the floors today. “We begin in the month of Ramadan, which is auspicious. Fingers crossed, we will set new records with this film,” says the writer who is currently drafting the second half of Baaghi 3 and describes it as an “extraordinary story”. “Ahmed bhai (director Ahmed Khan) is going to take Ronnie’s (Tiger Shroff) character to the next league in this action-thriller which will be one of the biggest films of 2020,” he promises.

And then there’s Varun Dhawan’s Coolie No 1 remake. Are there still coolies anymore, you wonder, and he laughs, “This isn’t a biopic on coolies nor is it a documentary. It’s a David Dhawan entertainer and we have taken porters as the backdrop but essentially, the film is about a guy getting trapped between two girls. It is all about entertainment. I don’t think the audience will come in to see how many bags Varun picks up. They will come to see a comedy.”

The last schedule of Housefull 4 begins in the third week of May and they are hoping to wrap up the film in a fortnight. “A couple of songs, and few scenes remain to be shot. We begin after Akshay is done with the first schedule of Sooryavanshi. It’s the big Diwali release and with every new film, the pressure has only increased. This time, it’s four times more and so we are trying to make Housefull four times better,” he signs off.