To make an effective thriller is not easy, say Abbas-Mustan

Bollywood director duo Abbas-Mustan, say that making thrillers is quite complex.

Mumbai: Bollywood director duo Abbas-Mustan, who are back with another action-thriller `Players`, after having made such edge-of-the-seat flicks for almost two decades, say that making thrillers is quite complex but they still are in love with the idea.

The formidable duo have been making films in this genre for long and have given hits like `Baazigar`, `Ajnabee`, `Aitraaz` and `Race` among others. "To make an effective thriller is not easy...it is very difficult. As holding the attention of audience is difficult, one has to ensure the suspense..the mystery is not out. Thriller films should be gripping every moment. Every time to make movies revolving around thrills is difficult but we prefer to walk with time," Abbas told PTI in an interview. "They should be excited at what is going to happen next. We also think of what will attract viewers to theatres for a repeat viewing," he said. Echoing his brother, Mustan, says, "We keep our target audience in mind while zeroing on any project, like what the youth of today like to watch. It is important to walk with time without forgetting the storyline, the theme, emotions, songs that are part of Hindi cinema. It is important for the audience to understand and connect with the flow of the film." `Players`, a heist flick, is an official remake of Hollywood crime thriller, `Italian Job` and stars Abhishek Bachchan, Bipasha Basu, Sonam Kapoor, Bobby Deol, Neil Nitin Mukhes, Sikander Kher and Omi Vaidya in prominent roles. The filmmakers did have a harrowing time while shooting the from seeking permissions to the language barrier abroad. "We had to seek lot of permissions for a traffic jam scene to be shot in New Zealand and that took a long time. While, in Russia we faced language problem, we appointed about 25 interpreters. We needed them to help us about basic things like where to go to eat and etc," Mustan said. "It took us more than a year in pre-production because of the sleek action..chase sequences. We also had to seek permission from various authorities where the film was shot," Abbas said. T he film was shot in Goa, New Zealand`s Wellington and Auckland, Russia`s St Petersberg, North Pole and other places. The last film, from the director duo was `Race` which released in 2008. The gap in between was primarily due to the extensive location hunt for `Players`. "This film required a lot of time for pre-production, almost a year. Like for location hunting, we went to Goa and twice to New Zealand where we finalised Auckland and Wellington. We had to make three trips to Russia where we shot a chunk of the film in St. Petersburg and North Pole," Abbas said. "This is the first ever movie to be shot in the North Pole, so the authorities over there were very excited. They are hoping that `Players` will pave the way and more films, will be shot there," Mustan said. `Players` is the first release of 2012 and it hits cinema houses this Friday. When asked if they would like to venture into other genre like romance, they said,"Instead of trying or getting into different genres we would prefer to take up different subjects in the thriller space." "In case of `Aitraaz` it is about the possessiveness of a girl and to what length she goes to get back her man. `Humraaz` emphasised more on the family. The idea is to make everything unpredictable," Abbas said. "If you go to see, we have made films ahead of their times," Mustan added. PTI