Over a late working lunch of a Subway sandwich, t2 sat down with director Mudassar Aziz to talk to him about his film Happy Phirr Bhag Jayegi. A sequel to the sleeper hit Happy Bhag Jayegi, the film stars Sonakshi Sinha, Diana Penty, Jimmy Shergill and marks the Bolly debut of Punjabi actor-singer Jassie Gill.  

Was it always understood that there would be a Part 2?

Not really, it wasn’t. I made the first film in a very different environment. After my first film (Dulha Mil Gaya) didn’t work, I was trying to set up a film again and that’s when I encountered this gentleman called Aanand (L.) Rai who is a very different kind of a producer. He understands failure as well and it was the meeting of two rather emotional men. He saw something in the idea of Happy Bhag Jayegi and said, ‘Let’s make this film’.

It was a brave call on his part. I hadn’t done a film in six years, Abhay (Deol) for four years and Diana (Penty) for over two years. Abhay and I would laugh that collectively we’d need to jog the audience’s memory by over 12 years. So, at that point to say we thought of a sequel would be rather presumptuous and dishonest. When the film released, of course, the numbers it did were unprecedented for a film of that size. But what was more amazing was the kind of love we got from audiences. I had already started work on another film but over a drink one evening, an idea interested Rai Saab. He told me to stop work on that film and do this... ‘this is really mad, we have to make this film’. That’s how the sequel came about.

It’s interesting that you mention it was the love, but you are cashing in on the box-office success...

I see this a little differently. If I wanted to simply cash in on the first film, I would have picked any story, named the lead character Happy and made it. Instead, in Happy Phirr Bhag Jayegi, you’ll see most of the same characters as the first film. When one says cashing in on success, one does it minus the element of the creativity involved. With Tanu Weds Manu Returns (directed by Aanand L. Rai) or Happy Phirr Bhag Jayegi, you have exactly the same people playing the same parts, but the situation is different and that requires creativity. 

While all the characters are the same, we have a new Happy in Sonakshi Sinha...

When we were writing this story, it was clearly based on mistaken identity. And if it’s a case of mistaken identity, you need to have two Happys — the first one was already cast and she is the Happy that’s well known to all. So, we needed another one. Which is why when we announced the release date and title we said, ‘Is baar do hai’? 

What is it like to revisit characters who you probably thought you were done with after the first film?

It’s both nostalgic and a tad scary. People talk to me about the characters they loved all the time. Bagga (played by Jimmy Shergill) was a runaway hit and the biggest compliment I received was when Happy Bhag Jayegi’s trial got over and Priyanka bhabhi (Jimmy Shergill’s wife) walked down the stairs and held my hand and said, ‘Mudassar, I’m in love with him’. That was very overwhelming. I’ve given them a healthy dose of Bagga and Afridi (played by Piyush Mishra) all over again. Bilal (Abhay Deol) is not physically present in this film but his presence is felt. Guddu (Ali Fazal) and Happy (Diana Penty) are a married couple now and you’ll see them as well. I am scared and nervous to see if the audience loves them again. 

And, this time the adventure takes us to another neighbouring country…

(Laughs) Yes! One neighbouring country at a time. This time around, they’re in China. When the trailer was launched, I told someone that Hollywood has been doing this for a while. Laughing at and laughing with your neighbours creates a great cultural comedy, which is why you see films that are based in Mexico or Canada.

When I was starting out with Happy Bhag Jayegi, I realised that it wasn’t just a dearth, there was no existence of comedies that feature India and Pakistan. It’s always been, ‘That’s the enemy, we’ve got to run them down’. Thankfully, people accepted the first film and so when I started writing this one, I decided to set the film in China.

Someone recently sent me a meme with Diana and Sonakshi that reads, ‘Tu Wagah sambhaal, main Doklam sambhaal loongi’.

You talked about how you’re in a different space making this film versus the first one. Is there confidence in whether there’ll be a third one?

The thing about love is that it makes you greedy. I want to feel that love again, which Happy Bhag Jayegi brought me. I’ll let the audience determine whether there should be a Part 3. What I mean by that is not merely box-office success, but people coming back to me with lines in this one. If I sense that happening, then I’ll bring the concept of Happy to a close with a trilogy. If not, there’s no need to — things should be done with honesty.