EXCLUSIVE: Amar Kaushik ECSTATIC with Stree 2’s BLOCKBUSTER success; reveals he offered the role to Akshay Kumar on Sky Force sets; also reacts to criticism over limited screen time of Shraddha Kapoor: “Agar Shraddha zyada dikhti, toh uski entry ka impact nahin hota”

Amar Kaushik, the director of Stree 2, is the man of the moment. He began the Horror Comedy Cinematic Universe and with Stree 2, this franchise has gone on another level. Bollywood Hungama exclusively spoke with Amar about the blockbuster success of Stree 2, the writing process and a lot more.Let’s begin with your cameo in Stree 2. In the first half, you are seen as a drug addict but in the second half, you wear glamorous clothes and shake a leg with Tamannaah Bhatia in ‘Aaj Ki Raat’. How does your character become so rich in no time?It is the same character as the one in the first part. Even in Stree (2018), he was seen dancing. The drug addict character was a different one. In other words, I had a double role cameo in the film (laughs)!Stree 2’s blockbuster success has stunned the industry, as it’s not star-driven. What are your thoughts and how has life changed after its release?My life is the same. My life actually changed during the release of the first part. Earlier, I was an audience. I used to think that we have always made entertaining films. Toh audience ab humein itna pyaar nahin kar rahi hai? Why are we not able to give them what they want? I asked myself – as an audience, what do I desire from a film? When I got a chance to make a film, I decided that I would incorporate all the elements that I wanted in a film. That was the idea from the first film that the entertainment quotient should be many notches higher. In the first part, we still were restrained. Stree 2 mein toh hum phail gaye hain! Humne kaafi masti kari hai. That’s because now we know what the audience likes and doesn’t like.At the same time, we were clear that we wanted to tell the story honestly. It’s not like we were chasing numbers. We decided to go all out in terms of entertainment.The camaraderie shared by Rajkummar Rao, Shraddha Kapoor, Pankaj Tripathi, Abhishek Banerjee and Aparshakti Khurana is also visible...Yes. After completing the first part, we were constantly talking about Stree. They had seen the film repeatedly and they knew their characters by heart. Hence, they were able to effortlessly and immediately get into the skin of their characters as soon as they began work on the sequel. I didn’t have to tell them about their character. The only thing I had to tell them was – ‘Bas. Isse zyada mat karo! Picture kahin aur pahuch rahi hai. Mujhe scene bhi kaatna hai’ (laughs).I would love to see the making of Stree 2...Every scene can have a making of two hours! Scene koi khatam hi nahin karta. One actor would mouth a line and the other would reply to it and so on. Hum kahan se kahan pahuch jaate the.Writer Niren Bhatt said in a Bollywood Hungama exclusive interview that a lot of improvisations happened...Indeed. Niren was present on the sets and he writes very well. But at times, what sounded funny on paper might not seem as hilarious when we went to film the scene. Then, we try to add something on the set. We used to wonder, ‘Aisi situation mein aur kya bol sakte hain?’. All actors are intelligent and used to give our inputs. I used to also borrow from my life to give suggestions. In short, it was team work.Akshay Kumar’s cameo was rocking. How easy or difficult was it to convince him?It was very easy. We were shooting for Sky Force in London. Baaton baaton mein maine bol diya. I didn’t even plan. He asked me, ‘Beta, tu kya kar raha hai?’. I replied, ‘I am doing Stree 2. Ism ek chhota sa role hai. Aap karoge?’. It just came out of my mouth and then I wondered ‘I haven’t even asked Dinoo (producer Dinesh Vijan)’! Akshay sir asked me for details and I narrated the plot to him and his character. He told me, ‘Bilkul karunga main yeh role, beta. Mazedaar hai yeh toh’. I was surprised he agreed to it readily.Before the shoot, he had a look test and did readings. He came on the sets and we had a blast shooting with him. He improvised a lot. We have grown up seeing him in comedy films like Hera Pheri. But to see him perform with such energy made for a great experience.You mean you had already started shooting for Stree 2 when you approached Akshay Kumar?Yes. I had already completed a schedule. And we had no actor for the said role.Some viewers have complained that Aparshakti Khurana has limited screen time in the second half....Yes, a lot of people told me but that’s how the character was. If you see, even Abhishek Banerjee comes 40 minutes into the film. With Aparshakti, it was vice versa. Until he got hypnotized or possessed by Sarkata, he was fully there in the madness. After that, he became someone else. It was the demand of the script.We write what is required. We don’t think, ‘Yeh actor bura maan jaayega, yeh role bada hai, yeh role chota hai’. For us, the Bible is the script and things have to be organic. My producer also has given me freedom in this regard. Some people even complained that Shraddha Kapoor’s screen time is less. Lekin agar Shraddha zyada dikhti, toh jis tarah ki entry ki usne, uska impact nahin hota.Also Read: BREAKING: Akshay Kumar starrer Sky Force release postponed; promo not attached to Stree 2