Housefull 5 director Tarun Mansukhani on giving equal screen time to all stars

Updated On: 31 May, 2025 07:13 AM IST | Mumbai | Letty Mariam Abraham

Drawn to the idea of blending a murder mystery and comedy, Housefull 5 director Tarun Mansukhani discusses the challenges of shooting the ensemble film featuring 19 stars aboard a cruise

Akshay Kumar and Tarun Mansukhani during the shoot

Gags, laughter, and a plot that’s almost unbelievable — that’s what the Housefull franchise has been over its past four instalments. But Housefull 5 marries these elements with a murder mystery. That was enough to tempt Tarun Mansukhani to come on board as the director. “How do you mix the two worlds without making it look like two separate films? These are two different genres. I sunk my teeth into it completely,” he starts, when we get on a call with him.

Mansukhani returns to direction six years after Drive (2019). Asked what took him so long, he says it took them a year-and-a-half to lock the script. “In our industry, time flies. We don’t even realise how much time has gone by since the last one came out.” The director is the latest entrant to the franchise that has actors Akshay Kumar, Riteish Deshmukh, and producer Sajid Nadiadwala as regulars. While he joined Nadiadwala and Farhad Samji in the writers’ room, he also made the upcoming laugh riot his own. “Since I don’t inherently belong to the franchise, telling it differently came naturally to me. Plus, I always had Sajid sir to keep me rooted in the world of Housefull. It’s the first Bollywood film to reach part five, and has its own fan following.”

Jackie Shroff and Sanjay Dutt in the film