More than two years after their National Award-winning film ‘Badhaai Ho‘, Junglee Pictures is now making ‘Badhaai Do’, which boasts of a fabulous cast. Directed by Harshavardhan Kulkarni and written by Akshat Ghildial and Suman Adhikary, the film brings together Rajkummar Rao and Bhumi Pednekar for the first time. The two have been shooting in Mussoorie and Dehradun since last month. We bring to you an exclusive sneak peek into the set.

Rajkummar Rao plays a cop and Bhumi Pednekar plays a PT teacher in ‘Badhaai Do’

We were looking for the right film to collaborate on: Rajkummar & Bhumi

While Rajkummar Rao is playing a cop in ‘Badhaai Do’, Bhumi Pednekar plays a PT teacher. The film happens to be the first collaboration between Rajkummar and Bhumi, and they say they are very excited about it. “Working with Bhumi is great. She is immensely talented and I’ve been following her work. There is so much growth in her as an actor. I was looking forward to working with her and I was not finding a good script. Then ‘Badhaai Do’ came our way and we both jumped at the chance,” says Rajkummar. Bhumi adds, “Raj has been a revelation for me. I thought he would be someone who’s very serious and a bit of an introvert, but he’s not like that – at least not in this film. He is a blast to work with, and a fantastic actor. Both of us were looking for the right film to collaborate on, and there couldn’t have been a better collaboration than ‘Badhaai Do’.”

Harshavardhan Kulkarni, director of ‘Badhaai Do’

Even for director Harshavardhan Kulkarni, working with the two of them has been a treat. He says, “Both of them are very hard working. They’re always trying to fine tune their craft and improve upon it, so there are some times when I say that is enough and they say, ‘let’s try a little more’. That’s been the best part about shooting with them. They also challenge me and I need to be on my toes all the time when I am working with these two.”

The team shot at Mussoorie and Dehradun

Exploring the ‘modern, new-age’ Dehradun

Shooting outdoors in the biting cold has been a challenge for the cast, but exploring the serene and scenic surroundings are definitely a plus, says Harshavardhan, who shot at Wynberg Allen School in Mussoorie, for two days. We were informed that ‘Badhaai Do’ is the first movie to be shot there in over 30 years, the last film being the Rajesh Khanna-starrer ‘Ghar Ka Chiraag’. “Shooting in Dehradun and Mussoorie has been fabulous. We are very lucky that we are shooting in the winters, and the sunlight that we capture is stunning. Most of the locations that we are shooting at are unexplored and never-seen-before spots, especially the ones in Dehradun,” informs Harshavardhan.

For Bhumi, shooting in Dehradun has been a revelation as the actress says that she always thought Doon to be a small town. “We have been shooting some parts of the film in Mussoorie, but we have shot extensively in Dehradun and it’s very pretty. The cold is intense and being born in Mumbai, I’ve never really experienced winter, so this is extreme for me. But it is exciting to shoot here as Dehradun is a fun city, as opposed to what I thought of it to be. It is not a small town – it is a city with nice cafes, malls etc. I think people haven’t really seen this part of the new-age, modern city, it’ll be very fresh for the audience with what we are showing in ‘Badhaai Do’,” says Bhumi. Being from NCR, Rajkummar is used to cold winters, and isn’t complaining. “I love winters and I am having a lot of fun,” he says.