'Nobody likes preachy stories. When you lace it with humour, it works.'
With a combination of big-budget, tentpole films (Two Stree sequels and Bhediya) as well as a low-budget genre hit (Bala), Director Amar Kaushik holds an enviable track record among his industry peers.
As Maddock Film's ambitious supernatural universe proves lucrative, Kaushik transitions to an equally hot producing career that boasts of the breakout success of Munjya.
Six years after his debut feature Stree, Kaushik brings its follow up Stree 2 to great anticipation, and it is currently raking in record numbers at the box office since its Independence Day release.
"I want people to have a great time with my movies," Amar Kaushik tells Mayur Sanap/Rediff.com in the first of a two-part interview.
How are you processing all that love coming your way for Stree 2?
We are very happy with the numbers. We knew we have made a good film but before that, we knew we had written a good script.
Whenever we start a sequel, there is always pressure of going above the first film. It is very rare for a sequel to be loved this way; both audiences and critics are loving it.
Our focus was to make this film the way we made the first one.
I wanted the audience to have a great time in theatres.
It's a tough job to carry forward a hugely popular franchise. What were the brainstorming sessions with your writer partner Niren Bhatt like?
Comedy is the toughest because it is about how you are writing it, performing it, and then editing it.
You write so many jokes on paper but they don't necessarily work on the screen. And sometimes the joke does wonders the way you edit it.
At times you can't guess what would work with the audience. For example, in this film, the way Pankaj Tripathi's character says, 'I am an old man', we never thought that line would become such a big thing but people are having a great laugh in that scene.
It all depends the kind of vibe you create on sets. If the energy is positive and artists are able to bond with each other, it shows.
Niren and I decided to go all out with our writing but be sure that it doesn't turn slapstick.
We drew inspirations from our personal lives. We share same kind of humour. When we sit together, it automatically comes up. The idea is to write with a lot of joy without any pressure, and people will like it.
As a film-maker, my job is not give audiences any gyaan. Of course, I will do that too but in my own style. Primarily, I just want to entertain. I want people to have a great time with my movies.
I was also an audience some time back, and used to crave for fun in my movie watching experiences even when the film saying is something important. You should be able to talk about the film after it ends.
Anything changed along the way when the original writer duo Raj & DK parted ways from the franchise?
Nothing really. It is exactly the same pattern that I worked on in Stree 2.
Even when I was working on other projects, Stree was on my mind throughout. I knew these are interesting characters and have unfinished business.
We also thought of not messing around with its cult classic status.
But we had to bring it back because of strong demand from the audience. We served it only because audiences wanted it.
I had some story ideas with me, so Niren was brought on board. We jammed together and he wrote the first draft. We took it to Dinu (Maddock's Dinesh Vijan) and he got excited.
Then we took it to the cast and they got excited.
Have Raj & DK reached out to you with their reaction for Stree 2?
Not yet. They must have seen it, but I don't know. I have no idea.
How did you convince Akshay Kumar for a cameo?
I was shooting with him on Sky Force (the upcoming thriller film that Kaushik is co-producing with Maddock) in London.
We were standing on a road during the break when I thought I would him for this role in Stree 2.
Initially, I was apprehensive about asking him but then I thought I would just let it out.
I told him it's a small role, would he like to hear it? He agreed.
I narrated the scene and within half an hour, he said, 'I am going to do it.'
I always knew I wanted someone for this special appearance but Akshay was a completely random choice. Even Dinu had no idea about this.
I am glad he said yes because the way he did this scene is something else. He kept asking for a better take, even though I was happy with what he did.
His comic timing is kamaal (wonderful). We grew up watching his comedies.
Today, we add nuances of his comedies in our films. To get him on board was very exciting.
People are curious if he is going to be a Thanos-like figure of this universe. What are your plans for his character?
I don't want to say much right now.
But obviously, we have thought about it. (The character) should gel with the story organically. It will happen once we start writing our third film.
All your films have a subtle social message. Stree takes a potshot at patriarchy, Bala speaks about self-acceptance, Bhediya touches upon environmental concern, now Stree 2 is about women's agency in a social set-up.
Do you consciously design subtext in your films?
It depends on the story.
In Stree 2, Sarkata is a demon for audiences but for me, he represents the thinking that takes society in a backward direction.
But none of it is on your face, it is in the subtext.
Nobody likes preachy stories. When you lace it with humour, it works.
In Bhediya also, we initially set out for a simple jungle story but by the end of second or third draft, we thought of giving him a mission of saving the forest.
Do you naturally gravitate towards small-town stories and characters?
It's not necessary but yeah, I circle back to it. (Laughs)
The Chanderi town that we see in Stree, I had gone there as a kid and it really scared me during the night time.
When we were scouting for locations for first Stree, I told the team about my memories of Chanderi and we decided to shoot there. That's how Chanderi became the Chanderi that we see in this film.
For Bala, I grew up in Kanpur, so I could vision those characters from that part of the country.
Bhediya was shot in Arunachal Pradesh, where I spent my childhood. My father was a forest ranger there.
One of the key characters in any film is location, where your story is set. This is as valuable as your actors.
Because I knew these places so well, they found their way into my stories.
Also, I always prefer going to the real location. Unless, of course, I am shooting for something like the climax sequence of Stree 2, we had to build a set for that.
Even the interval part of the film, where the group is running away on bikes, I was suggested to shoot that scene in Bombay's Film City, but I said no I won't get the feel.
I was told the same for Tamannaah Bhatia's song Aaj Ki Raat, but I wanted to shoot it at the real location only.
Unlike the first one, this is a very CGI heavy film. In the age where audiences are exposed to sci-fi and fantasy films from all over the world, how challenging is it to fulfil their VFX expectations?
And how do you make sure that doesn't become a deterrent when you are telling a story under a tight budget?
Yeah, that's true. But even when your budgets are limited, your ambitions are big. You also want to make same quality films like the west.
So it is up to you how much VFX you want to showcase.
In Bhediya, we used heavy VFX in the transformation scene, which was an important sequence.
In Stree 2, we showed only a few glimpses of Sarkata until its full reveal in the climax.
The thing is, the kind of budgets Marvel films have we can't reach there despite the top five box office collections of our films.
So what to do? You might receive some criticism, but that's fine. At least, the things you needed right must be perfect. That's how the mathematics go.
I am lucky that my last two VFX heavy films did not meet harsh criticism.
I am a very budget friendly director. I shot Stree 2 in 52 days. I finish shooting quickly and move on.
