'Suraj Pe Mangal Bhari' is a social satire: Director Abhishek Sharma

Director Abhishek Sharma says his upcoming film "Suraj Pe Mangal Bhari" is a social satire that deals with the society's obsession with astrology in the match-making process for marriages.

The movie, which went on floors earlier this year, features Manoj Bajpayee, Diljit Dosanjh and Fatima Sana Shaikh in the lead.  "The film is set in the 90s. We have Manoj sir playing a wedding detective, who does a background check of grooms, which was a norm during those times. There was a time when there was no mobile phone or social media and people had to deal with everything physically.

"It is very much in the vein of films made by Hrishkesh Mukherjee and Basu Chatterjee. It is a clean family-comedy. It is a funny film but not a slapstick. It is a social satire," Sharma told PTI.

Like the filmmaker's previous satirical comedy "Tere Bin Laden", the new film's title was also derived using the wordplay technique.

"It points towards the rashi (zodiac sign), kundali (horoscope), that we talk about more during wedding. At the same time, it is about the cat and mouse between Suraj, which is played by Diljit and Mangal, essayed by Manoj sir."   The film cast also includes seasoned artistes like Annu Kapoor, Manoj Pahwa, Seema Pahwa, Vijay Raaz and Supriya Pilgaonkar.

"I have a fabulous ensemble cast who are great actors. They all are so great at comedy. I had to do very little thing in terms of instructions, I focused on my vision. We had a great time working on it," Sharma said.

The director added that he wants the film to have a proper theatrical release.

"The shooting is completed and post-production work is on. The film should be ready in a month's or a month-and-half. We had not decided on the date but we had thought of releasing it by the end of this year.

"The film has great music and a lot of comedy. It is something that works best in the theatres. I have shown the material to ZEE Studios and they have loved it. Personally, I feel it is a theatrical experience. When theatres open, we can show it to everyone," he said.

Post "Suraj Pe Mangal Bhari", Sharma plans to start work on his next film with John Abraham. The two had collaborated earlier for 2018 film "Parmanu: The Story of Pokhran".

"We have been working on the film for the longest time. We don't know when we will start the shoot because we don't know the schedule primarily due to COVID-19. It is a fun film but it is not a comedy," Sharma said.