Anees Bazmee landed in hospital after trial audience told him ‘hasi nahi aati’ on watching Welcome

Filmmaker Anees Bazmee said that people hadn’t responded positively to his 2007 film Welcome at the first preview trial. The comedy-drama, starring Akshay Kumar, Nana Patekar, Anil Kapoor, Katrina Kaif, Feroz Khan, Paresh Rawal, and Mallika Sherawat among others, was a box office success and also received a positive response from critics. However, people who watched it at a trial told Anees that it didn’t make them laugh, making the director so stressed that he landed in hospital. Also Read| Akshay Kumar ‘too big for these small things,’ says director Anees Bazmee on why he is not in Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2

Anees’s new film Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2, starring Kartik Aaryan, Kiara Advani, Tabu, and Rajpal Yadav among others, has become a box office success. The film has collected ₹137.54 in 13 days of its release and is expected to cross ₹150 crore in its third weekend. Asked how he maintains confidence in his films regardless of the kind of buzz it gets before the release, Anees said it was important to have faith in one’s work.

He told Bollywood Hungama, “When we make a film, we watch it several times for editing, background, mixing, preview etc. So we get some idea how good it is. But it’s important to have faith in your work. I remember when I made Welcome, no one liked it at the first trial. I asked them what do you think is missing from the film, and they said ‘hasi nahi aati (it doesn’t make us laugh).’ I thought how can I, as a director, go to the public and tickle every single one of them to make them laugh. It’s a very difficult task.”

Anees added, “So I wrote the screenplay again. I had become very stressed so I was in the hospital because my blood pressure had shot up. Because I work on only one film at a time and give it my everything. So I become stressed that I made such a good film then why is it not making people laugh. So I sat on my hospital bed and started writing the screenplay again. And by the time I completed it I was like it is a fantastic film. I don’t understand why these 50 people didn’t laugh. I said that the film is completely correct and a superhit film in my opinion, even though some didn’t like it. So we released it without moving a single frame in editing.”

Anees recalled that he had a similar experience at the first trial of Ajay Devgn and Kajol’s film Pyar To Hona Hi Tha in 1998. He said that people were used to seeing Ajay in action roles and couldn’t digest him in a romantic comedy, but he kept faith in it.