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Director Akshay Shere on taking North India as a backdrop and keeping local cast in focus: Prayagraj has tales to tell
Akshay Shere highlights the significance of Prayagraj as a backdrop for storytelling, emphasising the need for authenticity through local talent
Director Akshay Shere, whose last OTT release was extensively shot in Prayagraj and Varanasi, admits that adapting true events is a significant challenge. "Working on real-life stories is difficult and not an easy task for the writer and director," he shares.
The incident that inspired his film occurred over a decade ago in Karnataka, and Bhagwat-Chapter 1 began there. However, the production decided to use North India as the backdrop. "The idea was that it would be easy to connect with the Hindi-speaking audience. Also, telling a story becomes easy and it gets very relatable," the director explains.
During his recent visit to Lucknow, Akshay revealed his future plans: "Of course, we have more chapters to follow, and we will surely explore more cities across the map."
Explaining his choice of locations, Akshay was particularly drawn to Prayagraj. "When we came down to UP for a recce, something about Prayagraj stayed with me," he says. "Though I know Varanasi has been on the global front for the longest, and it very much deserves it as it has a magical soul, Prayagraj as a city has tales to tell, and as a filmmaker, I wanted to explore that to the hilt."
Akshay is a strong advocate for collaborating with local talent. "We have been in touch with local artistes and were sure that other than the lead actors—because Arshad (Warsi) was the first to come on board, and Jitendra Kumar was on my list after Panchayat 4—we were sure to create the ensemble characters from Lucknow and other cities," he states. He insists this is crucial for authenticity: "This is essential to add the right dose of colours to the story and its premise. How will any director be able to do justice to a story without authenticity in place?"
