Producer Sajid Nadiadwala, whose action thriller Baaghi 2 is releasing this Friday, has locked the second heroine of his madcap comedy Housefull 4 that goes on the floors soon. It is not Kiara Advani, who was last seen in Abbas-Mustan’s romantic thriller Machine last year and the biopic M. S. Dhoni: The Untold Story before that, as has been widely reported. The actress joining Akshay Kumar, Bobby Deol, Riteish Deshmukh and Kriti Sanon in the fourth installment of the popular Housefull franchise is Pooja Hegde.
The former beauty queen and model who worked in Telugu and Tamil cinema, has done only one Bollywood film so far, the disastrous Mohenjo Daro opposite Hrithik Roshan in 2016. While she is making waves in the South and will be working with Baahubali actor Prabhas next, to be signed for this big ticket multi-starrer by Nadiadwala Grandson Entertainment must be Pooja’s dream come true. Now the hunt is on for the third heroine of the Diwali 2019 release that is apparently based on reincarnation and will be made in 3D.
According to sources, Sajid is cutting no corners to ensure that Housefull 4 will be the biggest comedy of his popular franchise. It will be mounted on a huge scale and set in two different eras – current day and the Baahubali period. An entire imaginary world is being created for the film which sources say will be on par with the Hollywood fantasy adventure film series Hobbit.
Sajid has set aside a budget of Rs. 75 crores for the VFX of Housefull 4 and is reportedly using Double Negative, a visual effects company based in London that has worked on Hollywood blockbusters like Inception, Interstellar, Blade Runner 2049and Dunkirk, for the purpose. Sajid Khan, who directed the first two installments of the series, returns to helm Housefull 4. Bollywood is expecting big things from this popular comedy franchise with the trend being set last year by Rohit Shetty’sGolmaal Again.