‘Nawaz’s character was created around Vikram Betaal.’
‘Betaal was a little more gimmicky, funny; he would laugh at you, tease you.’
‘That’s why I made Nawaz very quirky.’
IMAGE: Nawazuddin Siddiqui in Thamma. Photograph: Kind courtesy Maddock Films/Instagram
Thamma is a hit and Dinesh Vijan’s ambitious film franchise, newly christened as the Maddock Horror Comedy Universe (MHCU), just scored another winner.
Director Aditya Sarpotdar, who earlier helmed another hit film in this universe, Munjya, says his commitment to the MHCU is a “long-term plan” which he describes as “creatively exciting” work.
“Once Munjya released, and Stree 2 released, we got a little more confident about going one step ahead in terms of building the universe,” Aditya tells Mayur Sanap/Rediff in the first of an interesting two-part interview.
Are you happy with the reception Thamma has got?
Everybody worked really hard on this film. We are surely planning to celebrate the success very soon.
The basic idea was to give you a theatrical community experience and entertain families this Diwali.
Kids and even elders, everybody, all demographics of people are going to the theatre. That is really heart-warming.
Thamma is not just a horror-comedy, but also a romantic film. How challenging was to pack such wide-ranging themes into one uniform story?
We always knew that we wanted to make a romantic film first.
The story revolves around what the lead characters feel for each other.
Then to follow that, it had to have a certain sense of comedy and thrill to it, as it was being made in the horror-comedy universe.
Beyond that, the most challenging part was to start building multiple storylines from different movies into this film.
Thamma is also very unique, because you see the universe coming together with this film.
Till now, all the other movies that you’ve seen, even Stree 2, you had cameos in maybe one scene here and there.
But this was predominantly a film where you will definitely see how the universe is going to connect in the further parts.
This was very challenging.
IMAGE: Ayushmann Khurrana and Rashmika Mandanna in Thamma. Photograph: Kind courtesy Maddock Films/Instagram
Were you always meant to direct Thamma, or did it come to you after Munjya‘s success?
I was always meant to direct Thamma.
It happened when I was shooting the last schedule on Munjya. My producer asked me if I was interested in doing a vampire movie.
This idea was at a very, very, basic level. They wanted to explore the idea and take it ahead.
When I read it, I found it very exciting. I said, I’m very, very, keen and interested in doing this.
That’s where we started.
So, while Munjya was in post-production and release, we were working on the script.
Once Munjya released, and Stree 2 released, we got a little more confident about going one step ahead in terms of building the universe.
Initially, it was more of a single film. It was more of a film where the story and the narrative were restricted towards the character in the film.
But then with the entry of Bhediya and how the face-off between Bhediya and Thamma can be also built to carry forward in the universe, all of those things started coming in.
We’ve been working on this film for nearly a year-and-a-half when Munjya was being shot. It took another year-and-a-half of shooting and post-production.
IMAGE: Ayushmann Khurrana and Rashmika Mandanna on the Thamma poster. Photograph: Kind courtesy Maddock Films/Instagram
The title was earlier spelt as T-H-A-M-A in the announcement video, but later it was tweaked with a double ‘M’.
See, that is a sole decision by the producer. He has a lot of faith in numerology.
It’s the same even with Maddock, the double D in Maddock.
Initially, the name of the film was Vampires of Vijaynagar. Then it was changed to Thama and then eventually to Thamma.
That idea of double M was just purely for a luck factor. That’s it.
During your Marathi film Zombivli, you said you had to make zombies more local, more Indian. What was the creative thought behind this one?
Vampires, just like zombies, is a very Western concept. You know them through English and European films.
In Zombivli, there’s a zombie outbreak in Dombivli (a city in Thane district, Maharashtra) where a viral infection turns people into zombies. We tried to make it as realistic and as believable as possible.
Rickshaw-wallahs, auto drivers, roadside sellers become zombies. It becomes more personal and more relatable. Same with Thamma.
The vampires myth is originated from Eastern Europe, where there is constant cold weather and no sunlight. All of that lends more conveniently and easily to a vampire living and surviving there.
If you bring that same vampire to Indian tropical weather, then they will perish in no time.
We thought this is not gonna make sense.
So we said let’s try to find our own references to what vampires can be, and that is where the research started.
I came across some really interesting articles and old references to betaals, which also have a basic core idea as vampires.
So the idea of betaals originated in the Indian subcontinent.
We’ve grown up watching Vikram Betaal.
Nawaz’s (Nawazuddin Siddiqui) character was created around Vikram Betaal. Betaal was a little more gimmicky, funny; he would laugh at you, tease you.
That’s why I made Nawaz very quirky.
For us, Betaal became the larger idea. Now, we don’t call it the vampire anymore. That’s why the title was changed from vampire to Thamma.
I studied it a little further to see what these betaals were and where they came from, and what this idea was.
I came across these Pishach Betaal Yakshas, who were blood-suckers in the very eastern Indian reference, which is more in the Odisha-West Bengal region. They were also supposed to be the ones who drank Raktbeej ka blood.
That is how this whole myth was created from.
IMAGE: Ayushmann Khurrana and Rashmika Mandanna in Thamma. Photograph: Kind courtesy Maddock Films/Instagram
Were you taken aback by Lokah, the Malayalam film, because of its thematic similarities with Thamma?
It is just pure coincidence, man.
See, Lokah is more vampire. On the other hand, Thamma is betaal.
Even if the DNA of the character is very similar, they have stuck more to what a vampire is, like who gets burned in sunlight, who needs only blood, and who drinks human blood and all of that.
We have modified our betaals to become a little more Indian.
Again, I feel it’s a big coincidence that these two very similar films came in a period of three months. But there was no such plan.
We both belong to very different genres. Lokah is a very superhero, serious, drama.
Our film was more of a family comedy entertainer. Very, very different genres.
Also, we have two completely different markets. Lokah being a core Malayalam film, and we are a core Hindi film catering to a different demographic.
What did you think of Lokah when you watched it?
I loved the film. 100 per cent!
I went first day, first show. It was a fantastic film.
I have always been following Malayalam cinema. Every good Malayalam film that releases, I make it a point to go and see.
I especially watched Lokah because it had Dulquer Salmaan’s name attached to it. I said I have to go and see it.
I rate him highly as a creator, as an artist.
After I saw the film, I did reach out to him and congratulated him.
He was very excited about Thamma. He was like I’m really sure that you guys will get a good response.
Photographs curated by Manisha Kotian/Rediff
