The film draws inspiration from a real-life incident of an Indian girl, who gets stranded in war-torn Iraq, and sheds light on her survival against all odds.
Actress Nushrratt Bharuccha launched the first trailer of her upcoming film ‘Akelli’ in Delhi today. The film draws inspiration from a real-life incident of an Indian girl, who gets stranded in war-torn Iraq, and sheds light on her survival against all odds.
Bharuccha, while speaking to the media, revealed that getting into the shoes of her on-screen character wasn’t a cakewalk.
“Honestly, I was a little hesitant to do this film earlier because of the trauma attached to the story. I was extremely vigilant of my performance and relied on the film’s producers and director for their guidance,” she said.
To do justice to her role, she preferred to stay low-profile during the shoot.
“As a team, we were extremely vigilant to not to go overboard with things so as to stay realistic to the actual incident. I only focused on facing the camera and rarely spoke to people while working. There were also instances when I requested the film’s director to allow me to shoot (certain) scenes alone so that I could do justice to the role,” she added.
Though this helped her bring out the best in her, but she felt emotionally distressed off-the-screen.
She shared, “There were many nights I could not go out for dinner after the pack-up. I couldn’t explain why but I just couldn’t. I think actors are very sensitive and we need the most help when we take on difficult characters. A session in the form of a group discussion or a therapy should be introduced to help us come out of such hard character.”
Shot in Uzbekistan, Akelli also stars Nishant Dahiya and Rajesh Jais. It also marks the debut of actors Tsahi Halevi and Amir Boutrous, who became popular after their stellar performances in the popular Israeli series 'Fauda'.
Pranay Meshram, who directed the film, said that working with a blend of actors wasn't distressing.
When asked how was it to direct Halevi and Boutrous, he shared, “Working with them wasn’t difficult. They knew their craft since they are quite established as actors. The only challenge was in terms of communication, since they were not well-versed in English.”
Akelli is produced by Dashami Studioz's Nitin Vaidya, Ninad Vaidya, Aparna Padgaonkar, Vicky Sidana and Shashant Shah. The film is slated to release on August 18.