Would like to do something like 'Darlings', 'Badhaai Ho': actor-producer Khushbu Sundar

Mumbai: Actor-politician Khushbu Sundar, who has produced Tamil horror comedy "Aranmanai 4", wants to explore stories like "Darlings", "Badhaai Ho" and "Crew" as a producer.

“Aranmanai 4”, starring Tamannah Bhatia and Raashii Khanna in the lead, has earned around Rs 100 crore at the box office.

Sundar believes such movies still lack the multiplex audience in south but those are the stories she wants to explore in future.

“I am not the kind of a producer who would say that I am making only women centric films. I would love to do something like 'Darlings', 'Badhaai Ho', 'Crew'. But unfortunately, we still don't have that kind of a multiplex audience in south India as yet.

"That's going to take some time. When ‘Badhaai Ho’ was made in Tamil, it bombed. It didn't do well,” Sundar told PTI in an interview.

“Aranmanai 4” is directed by her filmmaker husband Sunder C, a noted name in Tamil cinema, who also directed the previous installments of the film.

Sunder, who debuted as a child artist with Hindi film "The Burning Train" and featured in movies such as "Meri Jung" and "Deewana Mujhsa Nahi", shifted base to south and found widespread fame by starring in "Dharmathin Thalaivan", "Vettri Vizhaa", "Chinna Thambi", "Pandithurai" and "Annaatthe" As a producer, she said, her sensibilities are "very commercial" but she is careful about the way women are represented in these stories.

"You don't have to show a woman in a bad light. You don't need to do something on screen which says, ‘Okay, it's fine for a woman to be in an abusive relationship and say it's part of your life’. No, I'm not going to advocate that. But otherwise, I love making commercial films. I'm not here to make a very preachy film,” she said.

Having spent close to four decades in the film industry, Sunder is happy to note the shift that's taking place when it comes to women coming forward and backing commercially viable projects.

“There is a huge shift in the kind of films being made. Yes, we still do have heroes where you think that the films are being sold only on a hero's name and heroine can play a very miniscule role in the film.

“But it's brilliant to see that women can carry the film entirely on their shoulders and still give a hit. You don't need to depend on a male counterpart to have a successful film. The content is the basic hero of the film. And I think that shift is brilliant,” she added.

"Aranmanai 4” also stars Ramachandra Raju, Santhosh Prathap, Kovai Sarala, Yogi Babu, VTV Ganesh, Delhi Ganesh and K S Ravikumar in pivotal roles.

The franchise revolves around a large family, who return to an ancestral property (palace) to sell it off, only to discover some supernatural elements in the palace. It started with “Aranmanai”, which was released in 2014, and followed by two sequels — “Aranmanai 2” (2016) and “Aranmanai 3” (2021).

Produced by Sunder's production house Avni Cinemax and A C S Arun Kumar’s Benzz Media, the Hindi version is slated to release in theatres on May 31.