Rana Daggubati, who replaced Nana Patekar in Housefull 4, will play a ‘threat’ in the movie, said the movie’s director Farhad Samji. The actor was hired following Tanushree Dutta’s allegations of sexual harassment against Nana Patekar.
Talking about Daggubati’s part in an IE report, the director said, “I think it is too early to talk about his role. It’s an important role. He is playing the threat in the film.” The actor began shooting for the movie in September.
Farhad Samji replaced Sajid Khan, who was originally the director of the film. Sajid had to step down after being called out during the MeToo movement. About the move, Samji said in an HT report, “I still don’t know how I should react to it. In 12 hours, I was asked to take up Housefull 4. As Sajid Nadiadwala and Akshay Kumar had the faith in me, I decided to take it up as a challenge. I hope I can live up to the expectation.”
Samji had already written screenplay and dialogues for the film, and that came to his aid. “It would have been difficult for me had I not written the screenplay and dialogues of the film. Whenever I narrate, I do it like a stand-up act. All the actors… even producers make it a point that I am present on sets. I was in Jaisalmer while the shooting was happening there.”
Recommended
Farhad Samji has been part of the Housefull franchise and has written their previous two films. He also directed the previous edition jointly with his brother Sajid Samji.
For Housefull 4, he is the solo director. “Had it been three directors, then also there would have been pressure. The same goes for directing solo. Pressure is there because it is a big franchise and is releasing on Diwali,” said Samji.
He called the movie challenge, and said, “It is a period comedy… something that we are doing for the first time. The look, clothes and scale of the film are done on a different level. That’s the challenge.”