‘Total Dhamaal was a dream project for me’

Acclaimed director Indra Kumar has consistently delivered Bollywood hits for nearly 30 years with films including Dil, Beta, Mann and the Masti trilogy.

He completes a second trilogy with his latest film Total Dhamaal, which has a huge star cast including Madhuri Dixit, Anil Kapoor, Ajay Devgn, Arshad Warsi and Ritiesh Deshmukh.

Eastern Eye caught up with Indra Kumar to find out more about the multi-starrer.

Tell us how did you manage a reunion with so many stars; wasn’t it chaotic to handle everyone together on the sets?

No, it was not tough or chaotic at all. All the stars were very good to work with and they cooperated very well. This movie is a dream project for me. Although it was not easy to get all the stars together, I would like to give credit to Ajay (Devgn) and it’s only because of him I was able to manage the reunion.

After a long time, we will have a comedy, adventure movie, with special effects. Was it difficult to shoot such a film? 

Well, yes. It was very difficult to shoot an adventure film, although it looks easy to do so. But I want to thank Ajay’s visual effects team, who have done a great job. The visual effects are so brilliant that you won’t even know what is real and what is not.

Why is inspector Kabir, which was the character of Sanjay Dutt in Dhamaal, missing from the movie?

It would have been a lot of fun if Sanjay could act in the movie, but when I had approached him, he didn’t have the required dates. Getting everyone together isn’t easy, so I had to omit Kabir’s character. Both Sanjay and I are really unhappy about it.

Since you have got Madhuri Dixit and Anil Kapoor together, will we see them reprise the iconic song Dhak Dhak Karne Laga song from your classic film Beta? 

We don’t have anything in this film, but hopefully, in the future, we can plan something around this.

Tell us what was the idea behind signing all the stars and how did you justify their roles?

I would like to say that the writers made it easy for us, because whenever we went and gave the script to anyone, they instantly would say yes to the film. Madhuri Ji said that she decided to do the movie right after she read the script. So everything was based on the script and the writers have done a great job.

How was your experience working with Madhuri after a long time?

I have directed Madhuri in films like Dil, Beta and Raja and she has an amazing screen presence. As you can see from the trailer, Madhuri will be seen dancing and the script allows her to say quirky one-liners. It has been an incredible experience to work with Madhuri.

Tell us why should the audiences go and watch  Total Dhamaal?

It is a film everybody - from a grandfather to a grandchild - can watch together. A first-of-its-kind adventure-comedy, it has great visual effects. If you’re a fan of the previous Dhamaal movies, or if you want to have a good laugh in general, come and watch Total Dhamaal.

Total Dhamaal is in cinemas on February 22