They all came on stage with masks on. The entire principal cast of Sajid Nadiadwala’s Housefull 5 (the first Hindi franchise to cross four films) was present together on stage on May 27 for the trailer launch of Sajid’s latest extravaganza. The occasion was also special as it marked 75 years of the Nadiadwala clan in Hindi cinema, with Sajid’s grandfather Gafoorbhai having made his first film, Inspector, way back in 1950.
The cast comprises Akshay Kumar, Riteish Deshmukh and Chunky Pandey (the three constant Housefull players) alongside Shreyas Talpade (seen in Housefull 2), Ranjeet (ditto), Jackie Shroff and Abhishek Bachchan (both seen in Housefull 3), Johny Lever (Housefull 2 and 4), Jacqueline Fernandez (Housefull 2 and 3 and Housefull in a dance cameo), Nargis Fakhri (Housefull 3), Fardeen Khan, Dino Morea, Nikitin Dheer, Sonam Bajwa, Chitrangda Singh and Soundarya Sharma and Sanjay Dutt (who was unavailable and whose cutout was present on stage, complete with mask)!!
Akshay quizzed the media about who they thought could be the killer(s) and successively removed each actor’s masks. Asked about Riteish and him, he stated that they are integral parts of the franchise and thus cannot be the killers. Johny Lever, he said, is a religious man who goes to church each day and “cannot be a murderer”. As for popular villain Ranjeet, he could not be the culprit either because he is the one who gets killed!
The film is extensively shot aboard a ship and not only is it the first film in the franchise that is also a murder mystery but also the first movie to have two separate climaxes with two different killers! “It took over a month for the censors to understand this and it has been an uphill task to promote the film even abroad!” said Sajid. The producer has also written the story and screenplay of the film.
“I’ve been thinking about the story of Housefull 5 and having two different climaxes for the last 30 years. I’ve always wanted to make a thriller, and the idea finally came to me three or four years ago, right after I finished writing Housefull 4. I wrote the story and screenplay myself, and it’s truly a dream come true. What makes this film unique is that different shows will all have different killers and climaxes. Imagine a 3 pm show having one ending, and the 6 pm show having another—this will happen across single-screens and multiplexes. Housefull 5 is a true killer comedy. Writing it gave me sleepless nights, but also a lot of joy. Once the script was ready, bringing Akshay and Tarun Mansukhani on board and others made the journey even more fruitful.”
Discussing comedy (the film has a lot of slapstick), Akshay insisted that such comedy is very difficult. “I am a huge fan of Charlie Chaplin, who would make people laugh without uttering a word, I carry his photograph in my wallet all the time! But such comedy is not valued. Awards to door ki baat hai (are a very distant thing)!” Added Riteish, “And I think it’s very wrong to say that comedy does not have content!”
Nana Patekar, who was to be in the cast of Housefull 4 in the cameo done by Rana Daggubati, admonished a mediaperson who asked a query in English by saying, “Hindi mein bol, Angrezi nahin aati (Speak in Hindi, I do not know English)!” When the question was translated why he chose to do the film, he stated that he was happy with the director and the money, and the role too was very good! He kept on referring to Akshay by his outfit as “Safed (white) suit!”
The film releases on June 5.
