If there’s any other set, one will think twice before insulting their co-actor, but when you’re working on a film like “Stree 2”, things can get really “ruthless”, says actor Abhishek Banerjee.
Besides scares and laughs, it’s the on-screen camaraderie among the cast, also starring Rajkummar Rao, Shraddha Kapoor, Pankaj Tripathi and Aparshakti Khurana, that forms the bedrock of this latest film in Maddock Films’ horror comedy universe.
Directed by Amar Kaushik and written by Niren Bhatt, “Stree 2” has grossed over Rs 600 crore in India since its August 15 release. Banerjee, who reprised his role of the amiable fool Jana, said the actors have the “freedom” to improvise on set.
“What works for us is that we can be very ruthless towards each other and we can really make fun of each other. We can really laugh at the co-actor because they have improvised badly and it’s not funny. Usually, you don’t do that on a film set, you will think twice before insulting your co-actor, we don’t. When you are so naked in front of your co-actors, that’s when the best lines come,” the actor told PTI in an interview. But they don’t take this freedom for granted, he said, adding they “maintain the decorum” no matter how much the film’s writer says they just keep going at it.
“Sometimes me and Raj have this very bad habit of going out of the way. But sometimes the ‘zyada’ (extra) we do also tends to work because the grammar of the film is like that. There are times when I would say something stupid and Raj would make fun of me. Apar would say something stupid and I would make fun of him. Or Raj would say something and we all would be like ‘no, no’. We are very open.”
Banerjee said Kaushik, who made his directorial debut with 2018’s “Stree”, is part of the league.
“Amar bhai is a bully from Kanpur, no matter how much he pretends to be this distinguished gentleman,” he quipped.
“He has that Kanpuriya vibe in him. He can insult you very badly about your humour, acting. He could be like ‘Abey, kya kar raha hai ye? Ye kahan se seekh ke aaya hai.’ So, you’re always on your toes. And, Pankaj ji, I don’t think he needs to do anything. He’s somebody who can make thin air funny. Sometimes I’m just laughing by looking at the things he does,” he added.
The actor said the cast is a bunch of actors who are “very secure”. “And even if we are insecure, we say everything out loud. Like, I would do that a lot on song shoots and say ‘Mujhe centre frame chahiye’ (I want to be centre frame) just to irritate my co-actors.”
In a previous interview with PTI, Bhatt credited Banerjee for a popular line from “Stree 2”: “Tu Bhediya hai, Animal mat ban” as Jana asks Varun Dhawan’s Bhaskar to shut up when he asks to be introduced to Shraddha’s mysterious nameless woman.
Asked how he came up with the one-line zinger, a clear reference to 2023’s controversial film “Animal” starring Ranbir Kapoor, the actor said he tries to keep up with the times.
“As an actor, it is my moral responsibility to live first in reality and not in the dreamy society of film stars. I like to travel, I like to see the kind of language people are using and then use that kind of emotion when the time comes.
“If you have seen ‘Stree 2’ that means these people (characters) have also seen the other film. (I am assuming) Jana and Bhaskar have also seen ‘Animal’… Varun’s character was being a lech and I had to tell him you’re not just an animal. Tum sirf ek jaanwar nahin ho, tum usse upar ho,” he recalled.
With the success of “Stree 2”, Banerjee said he is happy to be part of Hindi cinema annals. He believes all those years of rejection are finally behind him.
“Now I can focus on good work. I feel more included not only by the industry but also by the audience. We are performers, we need to have some kind of a relationship with the public. Now I know that they are not only familiar but they also love my work… This is the moment every artiste lives for.”
The 39-year-old, also a prominent casting director who runs Casting Bay with Anmol Ahuja, said there are many things in the industry that are temporary and stardom is one of them. “You might shoot to a sudden stardom, start getting a lot of roles, you might have a very good year, and then everything might fall flat the next year, especially with newcomers who do not know the norms of the industry…
“When you are rising, you don’t know what a fall means. Acceptance doesn’t come easily. It’s a huge country and they have a lot of parameters to accept an actor. You have to constantly fight hard against those parameters not only from the industry but also from the audience,” he said.
Banerjee, who started doing theatre when he was studying at Delhi’s Kirori Mal College, said his formative years in the city prepared him well to survive in Mumbai.
“Delhi made me confident, street smart. You don’t have to bend in front of anyone and Delhi has that kind of an attitude no matter where you come from. There were many struggling days but no matter how stressful they were, I never had the opportunity to become bitter.”
The actor is currently shooting for the second season of Netflix series “Rana Naidu”. He will next be seen in courtroom drama “Section 84” with Ribhu Dasgupta and “Hisaab”, a heist thriller with Vipul Shah which reunites him with “Paatal Lok” co-star Jaideep Ahlawat.
Asked what’s cooking in the “Stree” universe, Banerjee said that’s a secret between Kaushik and Bhatt. “Whatever Amar and Niren bhai are planning and plotting we have no idea about it. But now these two will really flourish. Till now, they were experimenting. Now that they know, they will have confidence to explore a lot of things in the universe,” he said.