His last film Youngistaan fared better at the box office than expected. Now, director Syed Ahmad Afzal’s is ready with his next Yeh Laal Rang, which addresses the issue of blood mafia. We caught up with him about the film and what went into making it.
How did you stumble upon the idea for this film?
I met my co-writer Pankaj Matta in 2012 and he narrated an incident to me. After two years, when I had completed Youngistaan, we met again and this time decided to put together a script. It is a very unique social drama, loosely based on true events.
How was your experience shooting in Karnal, Haryana?
I would like to thank the Haryana state government. The state police also helped us immensely. We shot on streets. Even the OSD (Officer on special duty) to the CM visited the sets once and showed a personal interest in the film.
How did you manage to shoot the entire film in one schedule?
It was very exhausting but now I am missing all the fun. There were obstacles but we were always ahead of our proposed schedule. We planned to shoot for 60 days but we wrapped up in just 52 days.
How was it like working with Randeep Hooda and Akshay Oberoi?
It was an amazing experience working with Randeep Hooda. He shot for 20 hours non-stop. Akshay was great in his performance and Pia Bajpai along with Meenakshi Dixit was good too. All the actors were very co-operative during the shoot.
