Farhad Samji

Some Lesser Known Facts About Farhad Samji

• Farhad Samji is an Indian writer, singer, lyricist, actor, music director, and film director who is known for directing Bollywood films including Housefull 4, Bachchhan Paandey, and Kisi Ka Bhai Kisi Ki Jaan. He has also made special appearances in films like Baaghi 3 and Coolie No. 1.

• He started his career in 2002 as a lyricist with his brother Sajid. In 2006, he switched to becoming a dialogue writer. In 2019, apart from writing dialogues, he started film direction with the web series Booo Sabki Phategi.

• He has written dialogues for Hindi films including Golmaal 3 (2010), Singham (2011), Chennai Express (2013), Housefull 3 (2016) and Coolie No. 1 (2020).

• He has worked as a writer in the Bollywood films like Himmatwala (2013), Boss (2013), Street Dancer 3D (2020), Laxmii (2020), and Bachchhan Paandey (2022).

• He gained his inspiration for screenwriting from Kader Khan. According to him, when he started writing songs, he was an expert in describing the character in the film through his songs. Giving an example of his lyrics, he said, Munna Bhai title track that goes M Bole To Master Main Master/ B Bole To Bindaas Doctor/ B Bole To Be-Misaal Actor/ S Bole To S Bole To Shana. After listing to that, someone suggested he should write films if he has the capability to describe a character so well.

• He has directed the Bollywood films Housefull 3 (2016), Housefull 4 (2019), and Bachchhan Paandey (2022). He has directed the TV series Booo: Sabki Phategi (2019), and Pop Kaun (2023). He has directed the music videos Ek Chumma (2019), and The Bhoot Song (2019).

• In 2018, he replaced Sajid Khan as ‘Housefull 4’ director because Sajid Khan was accused of #MeToo by several women.

• After the film Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2 written by him in 2022 gained fame, in an interview, talking about the remake of the old films, he said,
  

  Taking a good story, and then embellishing it further is as challenging a task as writing a fresh story. And, what’s wrong in doing that?”

• In 2023, a fan page of Akshay Kumar, ‘Akkistan’ took to Twitter and requested the removal of Farhad from the film. They started the trend ‘Remove Farhad Samji from Hera Pheri’ on Twitter which was trending for a long time. The owner of the fan club, Neeraj Raut, in an interview, said that the films including Entertainment (2014), Housefull 3 (2016), and Bachchhan Paandey (2022) made by Farhad in which Akshay Kumar starred did not benefit him at the box office or content-wise but has caused harm to him. In the interview, he further added that his comedy web series Pop Kaun was also not well received by the public and received negative comments. Raut also wrote an open letter on behalf of the fans of Akshay Kumar. After this trend, many industry experts said that he should be removed and the makers should listen to the public demands whereas another expert said that it was the choice of the actor to remove a director from the film or not.

• In 2023, he wrote the dialogues of the film Cirkus starring Ranveer Singh did not gain much fame. In an interview, he talked about the failure of the film and said,
  

  We don’t have any formula. We are filmmakers, we are not magicians or God. We can only try our best. Even Tendulkar gets out at zero and when he hits a century, he does. I respect Rohit Shetty for all the work he has done. His vision has helped me as well. I will not say this is a gamble, but the film business is a calculative gamble.”

• He has worked as a playback singer in the film Me and Mrs Khanna (2009), The Camp (2010), and Laxmii (2020). He has written song lyrics for the songs ‘Pyar Ki’, ‘Taang Uthake’, ‘Malamaal’, and ‘Fake Ishq.’ He has worked as a music composer for the short film Cafe, Street, Sidewalk (2014), Hindi film Prassthanam (2019), and Housefull 4 (2019).