Anees Bazmee shared the reason why he didn’t cast Tabu again in his upcoming horror comedy Bhool Bhulaiyaa 3.
Tabu had left everyone impressed with her dual act as Anjulika and Manjulika in Kartik Aaryan starrer Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2 (2022). Therefore, fans were a bit surprised when the actress failed to make it to the third installment of this popular horror comedy franchise.
There were conjectures that Tabu wasn’t keen to step into the character of Manjulika for Bhool Bhulaiyaa 3. Now, in his latest chat with Mid-day, director Anees Bazmee has finally broken his silence over not casting the ‘Haider’ actress in Bhool Bhulaiyaa 3.
Calling Tabu a ‘fantastic actor’ and a ‘dear friend’, the filmmaker said, “Her performance had a huge role to play in Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2’s success. But the point where I left her character—where the ghost and the villain were left together in a room—taking that forward would not be appropriate. I felt that character would remain memorable with the way I left it in the second part.”
In Bhool Bhulaiyaa 3, there is not one, but two Manjulikas! Elaborating on it, Anees said that while Vidya Balan aka the OG Manjulika was his obvious choice to play one of the leads, Madhuri Dixit became his next choice.
He said that the best thing about Bhool Bhulaiyaa 3 is having these two ‘fantastic’ actors in the same frame, and added that it wasn’t difficult for him to convince them to come onboard as their characters in the film are fleshed out.
When asked if he felt any pressure of balancing their screen time, the ‘Welcome’ director said, “I’m honest about each actor’s role in a film. I don’t cheat or lie when I narrate a film to an actor. I have directed many multi-starrers and never faced such a problem.”
Besides Kartik Aaryan, Vidya Balan and Madhuri Dixit, Bhool Bhulaiyaa 3 also features Triptii Dimri in a prominent role. The much-anticipated film is slated for a box office clash with Rohit Shetty’s Singham Again on November 1,
