Bengal or Bombay, all the same for bhoots

Vidya Balan and Kartik Aaryan lead the third edition. Pics/Instagram

On Thursday, leading man Kartik Aaryan announced that the unit had wrapped up the first schedule of Bhool Bhulaiyaa 3. It will be a few days' break before director Anees Bazmee calls action again on the film, also starring Vidya Balan, Madhuri Dixit-Nene and Triptii Dimri. So, which is the next stop? Originally, it was meant to be West Bengal. But now, it looks like Aaryan's Rooh Baba, who claims to summon spirits in the horror comedy, will also summon West Bengal to Mumbai. From the first week of April, the unit will shoot at Film City where a set of a village, complete with an elaborate 19th century mansion, has been built.

The first schedule concluded on Thursday

The setting has always played a crucial role in the Bhool Bhulaiyaa universe. While the 2007 original played out in a Varanasi haveli, Bazmee set the second instalment in Rajasthan. This time around, it's West Bengal. In February, the director had gone to the state for a recce, but decided against shooting there. A source reveals, "Crucial horror and comedy scenes were to be shot in a village in the interiors of West Bengal. Anees, who is fond of Bengali culture, was keen to capture the state through his lens. But the logistics didn't work out, especially after he fractured his leg. More importantly, during the recce, he didn't exactly find the backdrop he was looking for. So, he asked production designer Rajat Poddarr to construct a set depicting a lost-in-time village, complete with a vintage bungalow as used to be seen in Bengal during the zamindari system. These bungalows used to be vast and had a mix of architectural styles."

Anees Bazmee

Result? The art team has put together a set, which is said to be the largest after Sanjay Leela Bhansali's Devdas (2002), near the lake at Film City. "A chunk of the story is set in a fictitious village named Bijoypur. While in the first schedule, Vidya, Kartik and Triptii shot indoor scenes, the critical sequences will be canned in the haveli. After the extensive schedule, the team will head to Kolkata and other cities for a 10-day stint. This time, cinematographer Manu Anand is using a different colour scheme to make the third edition stand out from the previous offerings."