Himesh Mankad (MUMBAI MIRROR; May 28, 2019)

Mirror was the first to report (May 9) that Nawazuddin Siddiqui will join the Housefull 4 gang, 500 background dancers and a 100-skulls for a special song as an exorcist who brings an important twist in the plot. The actor filmed with Akshay Kumar, Kriti Sanon, Riteish Deshmukh, Pooja Hegde, Bobby Deol and Kriti Kharbanda over five days at Film City during which there were several more visitors to the house.

The first among many was cricketer Shikhar Dhawan who was on the set for four to five hours. “He was given a behind-the-scene experience of how a film is made. He’s friends with Akshay, who’s a cricket buff, and the two discussed the sport at length before Shikhar left with everyone’s best wishes for the upcoming Cricket World Cup,” revealed a source from the set.

A couple of days later, Salman Khan was in the same studio to shoot an episode for Kapil Sharma’s comedy show and during a break, he hopped across to meet his producer-friend Sajid Nadiadwala. “They were soon joined by Bobby and Riteish. Salman returned to the studio two days later and met Sajid again,” added the source leaving us wondering if Kick 2 is kicking off anytime soon.

On final day of the shoot, Vidya Balan who was in the vicinity, shooting some patchwork for her Independence Day release, Mission Mangal, also sashayed by to meet Akshay. “Soon Kriti, Bobby, Pooja, Riteish and Kriti had strolled across and it was an unplanned guftugu,” the source laughed.

The Farhad Samji-directorial has wrapped up. A reincarnation comedy, it swings between modern times and the Baahubali era, and is gearing up for Diwali 2019 release.