Duo will take off on a spooky adventure with director Pavan Kirpalani towards the year-end
Himesh Mankad (MUMBAI MIRROR; September 1, 2020)

In 2007, Akshay Kumar spearheaded the Priyadarshan-directed horror-comedy, Bhool Bhulaiyaa, which struck a chord with the audience. However, the genre didn’t flourish till the Ajay Devgn-fronted Golmaal Again a decade later and the Rajkummar Rao and Shraddha Kapoor-starrer Stree in 2018. Today, multiple producers want to explore this still-untapped territory, including Saif Ali Khan, who had produced the zombie-comedy Go Goa Gone. Mirror has now learnt that the actor is joining hands with Arjun Kapoor for a horror-comedy titled Bhoot Police, which will be directed by Pavan Kirpalani.

“Arjun and Saif play a pair of ghosthunters in the film. The makers have been working towards getting the right ensemble on board for a while now. The film, produced by Ramesh Taurani and Akshai Puri, will roll by the year-end,” revealed a source close to the development.

Confirming the news, Pavan told Mirror, “We are excited to bring this spooky adventure comedy and really happy to have Saif and Arjun join the team as they are a perfect fit for this crazy entertainer. Both of them will be seen in very different avatars and will bring their trademark humour to the script.”

In the past, Pavan has directed horror-thrillers like Ragini MMS and Phobia. However, this will be his first experiment with a horror-comedy. “The script is very close to his heart and given the adventurous elements in the story, the film requires to be mounted on a certain scale to enhance the thrills and chills along with the laughs,” the source added.

In an interaction with Mirror (January 28), Saif had described Bhoot Police as a funny and scary movie, which he believes is a golden combination. “It is an entertaining film and we are hoping to roll with it towards the year-end.”

This was before the outbreak of the Coronavirus pandemic and the subsequent lockdown that brought the industry to a halt for five months. More recently (Mirror, July 21), talking about his pet project, the actor had shared that there were plans to start shooting for it in August. He would be a happy man today that he can chase after a spirit soon, with Arjun, who is currently filming his cross border romance with Rakul Preet Singh. This is the duo’s first collaboration.