The trailer and a song from Happy Phirr Bhag Jayegi have been released and I already can’t wait for this joyride of a movie. While a lot of the cast members of the first installment like Diana Penty, Ali Fazal, and Jimmy Shergill are returning to the second one. There are a lot of questions as to why Abhay Deol isn’t seen in the trailer. His role Bilal was one of the pivotal characters in the first movie and I would’ve loved to see him in this one too. But director Mudassar Aziz revealed that Abhay’s character will be a part of the movie but only in conversations. So, Bilal is not missing from the sequel and will be referred to multiple times through the story.
The director said,
Geographically, my characters are in such a place where Bilal cannot be. However, he is spoken about throughout the film. He is one of the root causes of conflict in this offering.
He further added that the team did debate about whether Abhay should be an active part of the installment but later decided against it.
Rai sahab [Aanand L Rai, producer] and I concluded that it would be better if Bilal was represented only in conversations between the rest of the characters. He is omnipresent, yet physically absent.
The decision, however, did not create any bad blood between the director and the actor, in fact, Aziz revealed that he didn’t even need to talk to him about it.
Abhay is a darling. I don’t need to ‘work it out’ with him. Also, who says he isn’t there in part three?
Woohoo! There’s going to be a part 3 and Abhay is most certainly a part of it!