Ravi Chopra at Fame (South City) on Tuesday. Picture by Pabitra Das

Bhoothnath started off so refreshingly. Why did you have to bring in all the shraddh and mukti and make it so heavy in the end?

We made a statement right in the beginning of the film that here’s a man who doesn’t want anybody to enter his house. At some point of time you have to explain why to the audience. Also, I always believe that in a comedy film, laughter, laughter, laughter and you get bored of laughter. Take a Munnabhai… if the laughter had gone on and there was no emotional quotient in the end, it probably wouldn’t have become as big as it did. So, I always feel that a comedy film must have a second dimension. In a Dhamaal or a Golmaal, you laughed all the way through but three days down the line, you forget about the film. But I am sure Bhoothnath you will remember.

Was the message a prerequisite as it was a BR Chopra production?

No, no, no. Just when the script came through, we felt there was a possibility. What we wanted to say in the film is that you should look after your parents, stay with them and that there are no ghosts — just angels. This was a troubled soul and you would like to pray for its mukti. Why didn’t he get the mukti? See, if you have agreed with the film till this point of time, you will like the end. Without the flashback things would have been left unexplained.

Strictly as a veteran director and not as a producer, how would you rate Bhoothnath’s first-time director Vivek Sharma?

He is good. As a first film, he is very good. I like his whole approach of coming with a bound script. That’s the whole reason I agreed to produce the film. I liked the way he narrated the story. Yes, there were some things I wanted to change which were ironed out. Vivek was so immersed in the script that it was only fair that he direct it himself. And on the sets, he was in control of the situation. He didn’t deviate from the script and I didn’t have to step in.

Any other producer might have used the casting coup of having Amitabh Bachchan and Shah Rukh Khan together. You didn’t even give them a scene together and also didn’t publicise their joint presence in the promos…

I didn’t want to cheat my film and I didn’t want to cheat my audiences. My film was an Amitabh Bachchan-child film. Shah Rukh was playing a very important role but in a special appearance. I never wanted to give any other impression in the promos. My distributors were after me, all wanting a Shah Rukh Khan song. I told them there was no situation for him to have a song in the film. Why should I give him a song? And I didn’t. I didn’t want to spoil my story.

Amitabh Bachchan and Aman Siddique in Bhoothnath

Bhoothnath ends with the “to be continued” tag. What are your plans for a sequel?

It will all depend on the script. The original script didn’t have a sequel. But when we made the film, we felt there was an opportunity. When Bhoothnath goes away, you have a lump in your throat but then the child meets him again and you go back happily. We are working on the sequel script. It will be about Bhoothnath and Banku.

What are the other BR Films productions in queue?

One has just five days of shooting left. It’s called Banda Yeh Bindaas Hai which was called Pappu Paas Ho Gaya earlier and is being directed by me. It’s about a lawyer who passes the law test after many attempts and then gets a crucial case. Govinda, Lara Dutta and Tabu are in it.

Then I am going to start a new film called Pocketmaar. We are trying to say that there’s nothing called a small crime or a big crime. A crime is a crime. Amitabh Bachchan is in it as the man who is affected by the pocketmaar.

My son Abhay will direct a film called Kohinoor. It’s about the Kohinoor diamond and will feature my elder son Kapil. The female lead is still being finalised.

Then Rahul Dholakia, who made Parzania, is directing a film for us called Dosti. It’s about the friendship between an Indian boy and a Pakistani boy. We are saying they can be friends.

There’s another small film called Betiyaan, where we are trying to say that when you see so much violence against women, you forget that woman can be your daughter.

There’s a message in each one of them…

We decide on the subject first and the message comes out very easily, whether you like to highlight it or not. We like to highlight it.