Kartik Aaryan and Kiara Advani have been diligently giving shape to Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2 over the past few months. Following the Manali stint, director Anees Bazmee is set to kick off a month-long schedule in Mumbai today. Tabu, who had shot portions of the horror-comedy in Lucknow last March, is expected to join the unit in this leg, marking her first shoot post the Coronavirus lockdown. There had been talk that the actor had expressed reservations about filming in the new normal, leading to speculation that she was being “difficult” and had walked out of the project. This was followed by chatter about the makers seeking her replacement.

“There was no point refuting the claims. I would [rather] concentrate on the film,” says Bazmee, unperturbed by the rumours. “We’ll begin shooting a song with Kartik and Kiara at a specially erected set in Dahisar. We have put up sets at various places, including Mira Road and Powai. As soon as we wrap up the song, we will begin the talkie portions when Tabu joins us by mid-March.”

The director counts Tabu among his dearest friends and is glad that the sequel to the 2007 Akshay Kumar-starrer of the same name has enabled him to team up with her. “I have wanted to collaborate with her for a while. I knew that if I had to cast her, it had to be a solid part. When I started working on Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2, I could only think of her for the role. No one can do it better than her. So why would we even think of a replacement?”

Bazmee feels it’s only natural to harbour concern about filming in the new normal. “Everyone is worried in the current scenario. No one wants to contract the virus. After I had a talk with Tabu about how we would shoot, she was comfortable with the idea,” he says, adding that another Lucknow schedule is in the pipeline.