When Anees Bazmee had wrapped up Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2 (2022), he had no intention to build the franchise further. By his admission, the director likes to move on to a new story after wrapping up work on one. But the horror comedy’s runaway success made him rethink his plans. “I had cracked five-six stories, but I wasn’t convinced about any of them. The day we cracked this idea, I felt excited about giving my one year to the film,” he begins.

What was this big idea? To have two Manjulikas. From there was born Bhool Bhulaiyaa 3, fronted by Kartik Aaryan. Bazmee naturally thought of the OG Manjulika aka Vidya Balan to play one of the leads. The next choice became Madhuri Dixit-Nene.

“The best thing about this film is that we have two fantastic actors, Vidya ji and Madhuri ji, in the same frame. It wasn’t difficult to convince them because their characters are fleshed out. Such big actors always look at the material that’s offered to them. They were excited to share screen space with each other and be part of the film.”

Often when two A-list actors work with each other, the director feels the pressure of balancing their screen time. But Bazmee had no such worries. “I’m honest about each actor’s role in a film. I don’t cheat or lie when I narrate a film to an actor. I have directed many multi-starrers and never faced such a problem.”

Did he not think of casting Tabu again, considering her act as Manjulika was among the highlights of Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2? “Tabu ji is a fantastic actor and a dear friend of mine. Her performance had a huge role to play in Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2’s success. But the point where I left her character—where the ghost and the villain were left together in a room—taking that forward would not be appropriate. I felt that character would remain memorable with the way I left it in the second part.”

With barely 15 days left for the Diwali release, the team is gearing up for a box-office clash with Ajay Devgn and Rohit Shetty’s Singham Again. Bazmee hopes that both releases fare well. “In the past, two big films have released on the same day and become hits. I don’t believe in words like ‘clash’. A lot of people associated with Singham Again are my friends. I am sure they’ve made an expensive film with terrific action. I will be the first to watch Singham Again, and I hope the audience watches both the films.”