Tusshar Kapoor with Riteish Deshmukh in Kyaa Super Kool Hain Hum

The Kyaa Super Kool Hain Hum promos are really bawdy!

Yes they border on the naughty but I don’t think they are vulgar at all. The jokes are a lot of fun... something that you and I would crack with our friends on a daily basis. What I don’t get is the fact that the same people who love the American Pie series (a high-school film franchise with raunchy humour) are running down our film just because this is Bollywood and that’s Hollywood!

Kyaa Kool Hain Hum was ripped apart by critics but was a box-office winner...

Box-office success and critical acclaim are both facets of audience appreciation. Critics are a very small fraction of the audience base. For me, it’s the word-of-mouth appreciation that matters… because that’s the unbiased truth. That’s what we make films for. Kyaa Kool Hain Hum did very well despite the fact that the critics blasted it badly. And critics have anyway never really been kind towards me and my films (laughs). I have never been able to please them.

Our first set of promos for Kyaa Super Kool Hain Hum celebrated the fact that the audience had loved our film though the critics had hated it and we know that this is what will happen with the second film too. Some found it offensive, but many loved it. At least the critics came in handy in that regard!

Does the film take off from where Part I had left off?

No, no… it doesn’t continue from the first film at all. It’s the second film in the Kyaa Kool series that we are planning to continue with… much like the American Pie films. What is common between the first film and Kyaa Super Kool... is that the characters, the brand of humour and the situations they fall into are similar. Both the guys (Tusshar and Riteish Deshmukh) are looking to make money and have fun. They get embroiled in a comedy of errors and things don’t turn out the way they want. It’s a mad hatter like the first one, but it definitely isn’t a sequel.

Riteish and you have great chemistry in the promos. How was it working with him again?

It didn’t feel like we had a gap of seven years. Riteish and I have a great equation on screen, although we don’t really socialise off it since both of us belong to different circles. With Riteish, I always feel like I am working with a pal because both of us have the same brand of humour… we react to the same things in a similar manner.

Why a seven-year gap between the films?

We [the Kyaa Kool films are produced by sis Ekta Kapoor’s Balaji Motion Pictures] were waiting for the right script… something that would live up to the audience’s expectations, considering that the first film was so well liked. This genre of naughty comedy is something that we have to be careful with because there is a very thin line between funny and vulgar here. People think that such sex comedies are easy to make, but trust me, there are so many things we have to keep in mind. You have to make people like the film beyond the raunchy jokes and the naughtiness. If it’s slightly over the top, it gets into the vulgar zone and that was a strict no-no for us. To get that balance was really tough and finally we chanced upon a script that had it all.

What does Sachin Yardi, who takes over as director from Sangeeth Sivan, bring to the table?

Sachin wrote Part I itself and he had also directed a film for us at Balaji called C Kkompany which unfortunately didn’t work. But then he came to us again with a script called Road Trip to Anjuna. We liked that very much and decided to convert it to Kyaa Super Kool... And since Sachin was so much into the script, we couldn’t think of anyone better to direct it. The biggest advantage with Sachin is that his sense of humour is very today… it’s something that appeals to the masses as well as the sophisticated viewer.

How tough is it to shift gears from a sex comedy to a gangster flick like Shootout at Wadala?

Shootout at Wadala is a tough film… probably my toughest yet. It’s a complex character… he’s a funny guy but extremely aggressive by nature. It’s not a conventional gangster role and it definitely takes a lot out of me. Every time I am on set, I read and re-read the script and I take some time to get into that zone again. I psyche myself to play that character (Sheikh Munir) and that takes quite a bit of time. In most films, you just have to put on the costume and you are in character, but Shootout... requires a lot more than that. It’s a role that I have been waiting to do for a long time.

How do you look back on your 11-year career?

Ups and downs are part of the career we are in. I have been a part of some memorable and successful films and some not-so-good films also. I have a lot of dreams regarding my career and it’s still miles to go before I sleep.... Lot more to achieve.

Priyanka Roy

Do you find the Kyaa Super Kool Hain Hum promos vulgar or fun? Tell t2@abp.in