Farhad Samji recently spoke about the massive scale of ‘Welcome to the Jungle’. He shared that the story needed a big cast, and producer Firoz Nadiadwala wanted to go even bigger. He also talked about how tough it was managing 35 actors at once, praised Akshay Kumar for keeping a positive attitude despite some recent box-office flops, and gave his take on the debate over inflated box-office and budget figures.
Why Firoz Nadiadwala kept pushing for more actors
Speaking to Siddharth Kanan, Samji touched on the film’s unusually massive cast, explaining that the script itself called for a large ensemble. He recalled, “The film is about a group of actors who arrive in a village. Even today, Firoz bhai (producer) isn’t satisfied with just 34 actors. He would always say, ‘Bring in more people. Make it bigger. We need scale.’ And the scale comes from the faces you see on screen. He was so passionate. He kept saying, ‘The audience will enjoy it,’ and that’s exactly what happened. In every frame, you have seven actors standing here, eight actors there, four more somewhere else. That became one of the biggest USPs behind Welcome’s success.”
The script itself demanded a big ensemble
He added that the screenplay itself demanded a large cast, noting, “The script demanded 20 to 25 actors, along with the hero and heroine, all arriving in this village. That’s how we approached the casting.”
Samji on Akshay Kumar’s mindset
Samji also talked about Akshay Kumar’s mindset after some of his recent films didn’t do well. He said, “Akshay’s philosophy is simple: keep moving forward. I’ve never seen him sit and evaluate failures in the sense of becoming depressed or letting them affect him deeply. Everyone wants every film to become a huge success, but that doesn’t always happen. I’ve never seen Akshay Kumar sitting there saying, ‘Oh s**t, what happened?’ He’s always like, ‘Move forward in life.’ That’s something I’m learning from him too. He’s a star, and he’ll always remain a star.”
About ‘Welcome to the Jungle’
‘Welcome to the Jungle’ is the third film in the ‘Welcome’ series and has one of the biggest casts seen in Bollywood in recent times. Led by Akshay Kumar, the film also stars Suniel Shetty, Paresh Rawal, Arshad Warsi, Tusshar Kapoor, Shreyas Talpade, Rajpal Yadav, Jacqueline Fernandez, Disha Patani, Raveena Tandon, Lara Dutta, Johnny Lever, Sanjay Dutt, Jackie Shroff and many others. Directed by Ahmed Khan, the comedy released in theatres on June 26.
