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Can you imagine Hindi cinema without Chupke Chupke or Angoor? Without the delicious confusion, the mistaken identities, the gentle satire, and the laughter that sneaks up on you long after the credits roll? Neither can Mudassar Aziz. The filmmaker is back with Pati Patni Aur Woh Do, which is ruling the screens, and the director is currently one of mainstream Hindi cinema’s most reliable custodians of comedy.
In an exclusive conversation with Koimoi, Mudassar opened up about the pressure of making sequels, why comedy remains Bollywood’s most underappreciated genre, and how someone needs to carry forward the legacy of legends like Hrishikesh Mukherjee and Gulzar. Honestly, his words deserve to be framed and hung in every Bollywood office.
Mudassar Aziz talked about celebrating the legacy of Hrishikesh Mukherjee and Basu Chatterjee and celebrating comedy as a genre, amidst all the chest-thumping actioners. He asserts, “I feel the legacy that we come from has Raj Kapoor, also. It has Manmohan Desai also. It has Prakash Mehra also. It has Vijay Anand also. And it has Rishikesh Mukherjee also.”
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Mudassar continues, “Can you imagine a world without Chupke Chupke? Can you imagine a world without Angoor? Can you imagine a world, you know, without Khatta Meetha or, for that matter, B.R. Chopra’s Pati Patni Aur Woh?”
Somebody Has To Take Care Of Gulzar Sahab’s Legacy!
Talking about the different genres of films and comedy, still being underrated, Mudassar Aziz tried to reason out, “Yes, is it important to make Sholay? Of course. Very important to make Sholay. Is it important to make Mughal-e-Azam? Of course. Very important to make Mughal-e-Azam. So if Sanjay sir is taking care of what to do with Mughal-e-Azam, you know, and if in some way, Sriram Raghavan or Sandeep Reddy Vanga are taking care of what to do with the high drama of Deewar, Trishul’s zone, then somebody has to take care of what Hrishi Da was doing. Somebody has to take care of what Basu Da was doing. Somebody has to take care of what Gulzar sahib was doing also. And the legacy must pass on.”
Sequels Are Tricky
Talking about how pulling off a sequel is very tricky and living up to the pressure of making Pati Patni Aur Woh Do, Mudassar assured, “I think I see it more like a responsibility than a pressure. Essentially, the filmmaker’s job is to try to discover on his own writing table. What will push the envelope and try to make something much, much more potent than what the previous installment was?”
He continues, “I think it comes with huge amounts of responsibility. Also, what must be considered is – Is it being done just immediately because you want to rake in some kind of, you know, flavor? Or have you found a story that you feel befittingly adapts itself to become the next installment of the franchise?”
Let Us Celebrate Comedy
Mudassar & I both agreed that comedy is perhaps the most underappreciated genre. We never hear of a comedy film that bagged the ‘Best Film’ award. It is always the Best Film in the Comedy Genre! Explaining the same, Pati Patni Aur Woh Do director said, “Comedy is perhaps the most underestimated genre because if people laugh, they just assume it must have been done very easily.”
Agreeing that comedy filmmakers don’t get enough credit, he pointed out how even the West follows the same route! He dives into the issue with a perspective and agrees, “Somehow I think that when people in a cinema laugh, you know, they think that the people on screen must have just been laughing and giggling and, you know, they just somehow managed to put that up. But I can vouch for this, having worked with some of the modern-day champions, I would have this genre, namely Akshay Kumar, Ayushmann Khurrana, and Kartik Aryan that I feel so enriched that as a comedy writer and as a comedy filmmaker, my reward and award lies in the fact that the three very, very solid comic actors of the time have worked with me.
So I feel that, yes, let’s do something about it. Please, let’s celebrate this genre more!
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