Akshat Verma on his debut film Kaalakaandi: It’s not perceived as a safe project

Talking about starting his journey as a filmmaker in Bollywood with a Saif Ali Khan-starrer, Akshat Verma says filmmaking is an act of faith - from the writer, director, actor to the financer, everyone needs to believe in the story.

When Abhinay Deo’s Delhi Belly released in 2011, it created quite a stir, for both the storyline and the language in which the characters spoke in the film. And Akshat Verma, the writer of the film, soon came into the limelight. Six years have passed since then, and now Akshat is making his directorial debut with a dark comedy, Kaalakaandi, starring Saif Ali Khan, alongside an ensemble cast.

Screenwriter Akshat Verma makes his debut as a director in Bollywood with the upcoming film Kaalakaandi.

So the first question that comes to our mind is what took him so long to direct a film? “I took time because it needed that much. It takes so much energy and time to put stuff together [for a film] and that too when this [Kaalakaandi] is not perceived as a safe project, when it comes to selling the film. So it becomes very difficult to set it up - from writing the story to finding a financer, to getting actors on board, everything takes time. In the beginning, there is only the writer who has faith [in the story], then going ahead you collect other people who also believe in the film. I wish I could make one film a year but that doesn’t happen always. Filmmaking is an act of faith,” says Akshat, who is geared up for his debut film.

Talking about starting his career as a director with a film that is being seen as a risky project, Akshat shares that every film is a risk.

“You don’t know the fate until the audience and the critics react to it. And it is not really possible to elicit a certain kind of reaction. So, I prefer taking time to write a story I feel excited about adapting on screen. I need to connect with my project, much like what I expect from the audience. Good or bad, every film requires hard work and pain. I am not actively going out and thinking that I have made a risky film. I had fun making Kaalakaandi, hope the audience will have fun watching it,” he ends.

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