Exclusive: Mudassar Aziz Wants To Work With Akshay Kumar After 'Khel Khel Mein'
With Pati Patni Aur Woh Do, Mudassar Aziz showed that comedy isn’t dead yet. With Khel Khel Mein, while the box office didn’t live up to expectations, the Akshay Kumar movie welcomed a lot of praise. MensXP got an exclusive opportunity to sit down and get insights on how the film’s failure impacted him and what he learned from it.
MensXP: What was your takeaway from Khel Khel Mein when it didn't do so well despite receiving love from those who watched it, as it later found more appreciation on OTT?Mudassar Aziz: I think I learned something with Khel Khel Mein? It was that now we have 2 audiences. I learned that for sure. I'm very proud of Khel Khel Mein. I think, uh, I think it's a film that, uh, you know, it's nowhere close to being called a remake. It's an adaptation, but, as an adaptation to the Indian society, I tried to cover some very important issues that don't get spoken about in our homes, that we sort of brush under the carpet.
To know that there exist 2 kinds of audiences and that a film becomes a hit at 2 stages. Or rather could become a hit at 2 stages, is what I learned with Khel Khel Mein
. MensXP: You worked with Akshay Kumar in the movie and you worked with Shah Rukh Khan in your debut. What is it that you observed about them as a filmmaker that makes them such huge superstars?Mudassar Aziz: I was a very young boy when I was directing Khan sahab. There was hardly anything to observe or comment on. I was just gaping, and I was in awe and learning with, with, with, with him. There is an inherent charisma that the man possesses, and talking about it is futile because, I mean, the whole nation already knows that. Uh, what I can say about him is that he is, uh, He's God-sent for the profession. Only Shah Rukh Khan can be Shah Rukh Khan. And obviously, my statement is not literal. I mean, I mean it in another way altogether, that, you know, only that kind of personality, and that kind of human being, can end up becoming that magnanimous and gigantic star that he is.
When it comes to AK sir, I think the most satisfying and enriching experience of mine as a director, where I walked away satisfied, was after directing Akshay Kumar because him and me are servants of the same genre.
There would be times on the set where the producers or the other actors would see the 2 of us under a tree or sitting on a table at some distance, and often enough they assume that we were talking about something very serious, or whether he had some date issues or whether he wanted to just do something he was not liking or whatever. And then when we would come back towards them, they would ask us, 'What's up, what were you talking about?’ And we were like, ‘No, we were talking about how to say the line in a way in which they'd laugh more.’
Then everyone would be like, ‘But you had such serious expressions on your faces.’ The takeaway from that, that I understood, is that both of us are such servants of the genre, that for us, it's not fun in games, we're hammering every nail, and fixing every joint in, in a 1000 ways possible to buy that one smile.
Ayushman Khurana, Kartik Aaryan and Akshay Kumar. I think this is the trinity that is keeping this genre, at least attempting to keep this genre alive.
Honestly speaking, all the other actors seem to have moved into some world where they're inviting only a particular kind of scripts. And it's nice God has been kind. My audiences have been supportive, and they've presented me with the opportunity to work with these 3 with in the comedy genre. I would find myself very incomplete if I hadn't worked with anyone.
MensXP: Can we potentially see you working with them again?Mudassar Aziz:
Oh, Mr. Kumar, most definitely. At some point, it's too early to say, but by the time we finished Khel Khel Mein and just because how dear a film it is to him and me both. The film is very dear to him, mind you. I still get calls from him on a random afternoon where he'll call me and he's like ‘Beta apni picture dekh raha hu shot ke beech me baith ke, kya film banayi hai apan ne