Subhash K Jha talked with director Mudassar Aziz about the purpose of his Happy Phirr Bhag Jayegi, which released in 2018.
Happy Phirr Bhag Jayegi, the sequel to Happy Bhag Jayegi, was released on August 24 in 2018. The sequel substituted Sonakshi Sinha in place of Diana Penty and told us what already knew but didn’t want to hear: the people in the neighbouring country, China not Pakistan, are just like us.
In this throwback interview with this writer Mudassar admitted he had found his voice. “And if that voice propounded peace with Pakistan in Happy Bhag Jayegi I’m happy. And now with the sequel I’ve made another clean comedy that doesn’t demonize our neighbour. We need more efforts at creating harmony in the universe. We didn’t plan yet another peace treaty through our cinema. That China is considered a threat to India did strike us. But for us, China was an unexplored location. Not too many films had gone there.”
Sadly, Happy Phirr Bhag Jayegi couldn’t be shot entirely in China. They shot some portions in China and the rest was done in Kuala Lumpur which they cheat-depicted as China.
The director sees cinema as a weapon of peace. “We are constantly making films about terror and terrorism naming Pakistan as the traditional enemy. But there is a lot more to Pakistan and China than war and aggression. We share such a long and eventful history with both countries. I wish audiences would take away some of the smile from the Chinese excursion in Happy Phirr Bhag Jayegi just as they done with Pakistan in the earlier film. We really have to stop talking of war. And begin exploring peace in cinema.”
