Who can forget Kundan Shah’s biting political satire Jaane Bhi Do Yaaro? Though it has been 25 years since its release, this sensational 1983 comedy starring an ensemble cast comprising of greats (Naseeruddin Shah, Pankaj Kapur, Om Puri, Neena Gupta, Ravi Vaswani, Satish Kaushik and Satish Shah) has become a cult favourite with generations of viewers.

The good news for all Jaane Bhi Do Yaaro fans is that Kundan Shah is coming up with the sequel of the classic comedy, which will be called Jaane Bhi Do Yaaro Part 2.

Kundan Shah, the director of the original laugh riot, reveals: “It is a sequel about what happens when the protagonists come out of jail after 25 years.”

Ask Kundan Shah how he came up with the idea of making a sequel to the classic and he says: “Somebody told me, ‘It’s the season for sequels, you should also come up with the sequel of Jaane Bhi Do Yaaro’.” He adds, “See, the proposal did not come from us. The proposal has come from producer Feroz Nadiadwala. He wants to make Jaane Bhi Do Yaaro Part 2; and I have to write the script.”

With a producer like Feroz Nadiadwala (Welcome, Phir Hera Pheri) on hand, Kundan looks like he is on a winning wicket. But while there has been a series of successful sequels like Krrish, Dhoom: 2 and Phir Hera Pheri recently, does Kundan feel apprehensive about making a sequel that can equal his original masterpiece? Kundan shrugs: “You can’t go by past reputation. Jo ban gaya, ban gaya, abhi chhodo usko. We can’t say whether the audience will like it or not but we are not going to make it until we know that we are on the right track.”

So will the sequel have the original cast? Kundan smiles: “Yeah, all of them will be there — Neena Gupta will play Neena Gupta’s character, Pankaj Kapur will play Pankaj Kapur’s character, Naseer, Ravi (Vaswani), all of them.” Unfortunately, one key character, Bhakti Barve, is no more. Who will play her part in the sequel? “We will decide on that at a later stage,” says Kundan. “As for the others, I have spoken to them but their condition is that the film should have a good script.”

This sentiment was echoed by phone calls to the stars. Neena Gupta said: “Yes, I have been approached by Kundan. I am very excited about the project and am looking forward to it. I feel it’s a very good idea. Now it depends on the script. I have a lot of trust on Kundan. If he has taken this responsibility and he has taken this step. He must be very strong on his script.”

Naseeruddin declared: “The script is still being written so I have nothing to say on the project.”

Pankaj Kapur sounded even less convinced: “Yes Kundan has approached me but we didn’t have a meeting about it so I don’t even know I would be wanting to do that film or not.”

When we called Feroz Nadiadwala, and asked about his plans to make a sequel to Jaane Bhi Do Yaaro, he said, “I am busy in a meeting. Please call back later.” After that he was unavailable for comment.

We can only hope Kundan’s project does take off since this is one sequel film buffs wouldn’t want to say “jaane bhi do yaaro” to.