Vampires, in director Aditya Sarpotdar’s mind, were an out-and-out Western concept. Think biting cold, dark nights, Gothic architecture, all lending mood to the legend. But he was in for a surprise. “When we were researching, we realised that the idea of betaals preceded the concept of vampires. There are several articles referencing how the Western vampire might have been an offshoot of the betaal idea from the Indian subcontinent,” he shares. That seeded the idea of his vampire dramedy, Thamma.
The Ayushmann Khurrana, Rashmika Mandanna, and Nawazuddin Siddiqui-starrer is the latest addition to the Maddock Horror Comedy Universe (MHCU). As he set out to create an Indian world of vampires, Sarpotdar took inspiration from the classic Hindi TV serial, Vikram Aur Betaal. “Betaal there was quirky, smart, and cunning. He used to pose riddles to Vikram, then let out a distinct laugh and disappear. Nawaz’s character is, in many ways, modelled on that version. He is mischievous, unpredictable, and a bit mad,” he says.
Varun Dhawan in ‘Bhediya’; (right) Shraddha Kapoor in ‘Stree 2’
With creator Amar Kaushik and writer Niren Bhatt, Sarpotdar — who previously made the horror comedy, Munjya (2024) — slowly crafted Thamma’s world. The director remembers the first moment he felt this “madness” truly come alive on set. It was during a night shoot at Film City in Goregaon.
Sarpotdar says, “We were shooting in our massive Betaal World set at Film City. When the actors put on their fangs and began performing the physicality of betaals, it felt crazy. After a few nights, it felt like that was where we belonged.”
A still from ‘Thamma’
When it came to casting, the first betaal Sarpotdar finalised was Mandanna. She cracked the first look test, he remembers. “In the look test, when she came out in costume and we gave her the fangs, the first pose she struck was perfect — this without even a brief. There was a certain dread and coldness, yet so much likeability. The way she has used her eyes and body to express that raw, jungle-like quality was exactly what the character needed.”
As much as fans loved the new characters in the MHCU, they equally loved seeing an old resident of the cinematic universe — Varun Dhawan aka Bhediya. A crossover between the MHCU films is a given. In Thamma, it materialised as a crucial Khurrana-versus-Dhawan fight sequence. The director breaks it down saying, “In the script, we always had the Bhediya versus Thamma face-off planned. Varun does action very well, and Ayushmann has a high-energy style. They had to go at each other at a Batman-Superman level. Varun’s Bhediya is extremely loved, so his entry had to be kickass — that whistle-worthy slow-motion reveal. Then there’s the werewolf’s reveal. Both are designed as big moments.”
With the MHCU being populated by Stree and her rival Sarkata, werewolves, and now vampires, where is this world headed next? The director smiles, “A lot of people feel there is huge potential for this universe to unfold further. After Stree, Bhediya, and now Thamma, we’re holding on to one wild card — a massive betaal versus werewolf showdown. The animosity between the two has been set up, and when they finally go at each other, it’s going to be a battle of two big superheroes. We want it to unfold in the most fun and mightiest way possible.”
Fans, head to Reddit right now!
Aditya Sarpotdar
What if we told you that ‘Thamma’ creator Amar Kaushik, writer Niren Bhatt, and director Aditya Sarpotdar go regularly to online forums and glean fan theories? “All three of us love reading fan theories,” laughs Sarpotdar, before adding that the practice inspires them to make the Maddock Horror Comedy Universe richer. “We go on forums anonymously, read discussions about our films, and bring those ideas back to the drawing board. We all share this mindset of creating something crazier, something that nobody has ever seen before.”