Parambrata Chatterjee returns to the world of Hawa Bodol after 13 years with the sequel, Abar Hawa Bodol, both as director and actor. He reprised his role alongside Rudranil Ghosh and Raima Sen.
The plot revolves around two friends, Jeet and Raj and the fun begins when their bodies get swapped, leading to hilarious confusions and emotional turmoil. In this conversation, Parambrata reflects on revisiting the beloved characters, balancing nostalgia with new expectations, and why the sequel aims to be larger in scale and emotion than the original film.
Jeet, Raj, and Tanuka are back with Abar Hawa Bodol. What has changed for them?
In Hawa Bodol, we had seen a very well-established Jeet and Tanuka being a slightly aggrieved wife. Whereas, 13 years later, Jeet is struggling a little and his problems with Tanuka have only increased. How much worse it is, the film will tell. So yes, the problems are more intense.
Sequels always come with challenges. As a director, how do you deal with that?
I feel the biggest challenge is when certain movies or characters become cult classics. Naturally, there are sky-high expectations, and people want to see the character doing similar kinds of things. So, holding on to that is important.
What I also believe is that the sequel needs to be bigger than the first one. In Abar Hawa Bodol, we have tried to make it bigger scalewise and emotionally. Even the setting has been changed completely.
Is making sequels playing safe or taking a risk?
Both. There are, of course, a comfort and a recall value when it comes to sequels. At the same time, there are higher expectations, and if the sequel disappoints, the audiences end up having grievances.
What inspired the story?
During the first film, there were several inspirations that played a role. There are a few foreign films that have similar themes. More importantly, the idiom “the grass is greener on the other side,” became a huge factor in the film because we never really know what the other person is going through, no matter how close we are. So, maybe we ask ourselves, “what if we get a chance to live each other’s lives?” and that is what inspired Hawa Bodol.
For Abar Hawa Bodol, I’ll say, we all have evolved because we change with time. So the bucket of experiences is fuller now. So, I feel the prequel is a more emotional film.
How have you grown as a director between the two films?
In 2012, I was an actor who had just come back from England and had a couple of successful films. So when I directed Hawa Bodol back then, I was hungry to make films.
After so many years, I have had successful as well as unsuccessful films as an actor and director. Now, when Abar Hawa Bodol is about to release, I am more of a director.
What will the audience take away from the film?
Raima Sen! People love to go watch a beautiful actress like her.