Gags, laughter, and a plot that’s almost unbelievable — that’s what the Housefull franchise has been over its past four instalments. But Housefull 5 marries these elements with a murder mystery. That was enough to tempt Tarun Mansukhani to come on board as the director. “How do you mix the two worlds without making it look like two separate films? These are two different genres. I sunk my teeth into it completely,” he starts, when we get on a call with him. 
Mansukhani returns to direction six years after Drive (2019). Asked what took him so long, he says it took them a year-and-a-half to lock the script. “In our industry, time flies. We don’t even realise how much time has gone by since the last one came out.” The director is the latest entrant to the franchise that has actors Akshay Kumar, Riteish Deshmukh, and producer Sajid Nadiadwala as regulars. While he joined Nadiadwala and Farhad Samji in the writers’ room, he also made the upcoming laugh riot his own. “Since I don’t inherently belong to the franchise, telling it differently came naturally to me. Plus, I always had Sajid sir to keep me rooted in the world of Housefull. It’s the first Bollywood film to reach part five, and has its own fan following.”
Jackie Shroff and Sanjay Dutt in the film
Housefull 5 features about 19 stars, including Kumar, Deshmukh, Abhishek Bachchan, Sanjay Dutt, Jackie Shroff, Nargis Fakhri, Jacqueline Fernandez, Fardeen Khan, and Chitrangda Singh. It was the director’s first brush with ensemble cast, having previously helmed a love triangle in Dostana (2008), and an actioner in Drive. Wasn’t giving everyone enough screen time in a two-hour film next to impossible? That, Mansukhani says, was worked out right at the scripting stage.
Mansukhani says, “If the character has turned out well while writing, then you offer it to a big star. There is no point in roping in a star for one or two scenes. Here, we made the conscious decision that until and unless a character is prominent, we won’t approach a star.”
Tarun Mansukhani
The bigger challenge, he notes, was filming the comedy on a cruise for 40 days. “The first thing you have to do is memorise the entire ship. You don’t want to go somewhere in the back while the shoot is in the front. Plus, you have to constantly balance yourself and [shoot amid that]. Also, the weather keeps changing every minute,” he shares, recalling how they faced a major storm while shooting last year. “I remember during the storm, people couldn’t stand, and cameras were about to fly off. On the second day of the storm, the captain told me I had to stop filming due to safety concerns.”
(Clockwise) Jackie Shroff, Sanjay Dutt, Tarun Mansukhani, and Riteish Deshmukh on the set of Housefull 5
While every actor on set was a star in their own right, Dutt and Shroff surprised the director with their signature brand of comedy. He says, “Having Sanjay and Jackie together is such a riot. I didn’t know they had this mad comic side to them. I was blown away by the kind of energy they brought on set.”
The June 6 release marks the director’s first out-and-out comedy. His approach to ensuring that the jokes landed was simple — make it collaborative. “I was an actor before I became an assistant director. So, often I would perform a scene, and then ask [my actors] to recreate it. Sometimes, you get exactly what you want, and other times, it turns out even better because they bring their own flavour to your imitation. Many times, [we’d] change something because it was not landing. So many times, my spot boy came to me and said, ‘Sir, mazaa nahin aaya’. Then it was up to us to figure out [what was] going wrong and correct it.”
Did you know?Tarun Mansukhani was an actor before he pursued direction. He featured in the first episode of the hit sitcom, Dekh Bhai Dekh.