Abhinay Deo: I want to showcase the underbelly of Lucknow

Filmmaker Abhinay Deo was in the city over the weekend to recce for locations for his untitled film, which he plans to shoot here in 2016.
Filmmaker Abhinay Deo is in love with the Lucknow winter. In town for a recce of the city for his next film, Abhinay says, “Bombay being Bombay, I’m not used to this kind of cold, but I love the weather. I cannot tell you how much I’m enjoying the fog.The three days I’ve been here – Lucknow has been spectacular. I’ve already started recognizing places, feeling the way my film and characters would gel with the place.”
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Abhinay went around the city for three days surveying locations for his next film, which is set in Lucknow and stars Irrfan Khan, along with an ensemble cast. “My film is based in Lucknow. It is a dark comedy, a mad film. After Delhi Belly, you would have known what mad can mean for me,” laughs Abhinay, adding, “I want the charm of old-world Lucknow and the other emerging, developing side of the city – both of which I want to balance out in the film. It is a film I’ve been wanting to make for some time now.”
Throwing some light on the cast, Abhinay tells us, “I fought a lot in my head with the casting. I finally decided to go with the right actor than the right star. There are 3-4 more cast members who are equally important, but I cannot share their names because the contracts are not yet signed. When we were writing initially, we did consider Imran (Khan) in the lead role. But as the script panned out, it needed a slightly older person, so we zeroed in on Irrfan Khan. Imran is a very dear friend of mine and he’s young and youthful. But I wanted someone who’s 35 plus and Imran can never look that old.”
So which locations in the city has Abhinay finally zeroed in on? “We’ve scanned Lucknow in and out and loved it. I have 40 locations to be done in Lucknow, out of which I’ve zeroed in on at least 30-32. The usual ones – the Residency, Rumi Darwaza, Hazratganj are there, but I’m not one who goes to places and starts shooting them like a travelogue. I like to incorporate the texture of the place into my characters and my story. I’ve seen the most astoundingly beautiful houses and lanes in the Old City area and I’m going to be shooting there,” says Abhinay.
The filmmaker plans to return to Lucknow in early January for a second recce of the city. “I’ve been to Kanpur and other parts of UP, but this is my first time to Lucknow. This is just an initial recce – to scan the feel, get the place and understand the milieu. I’ll be returning in January again. I recce a location more than 2-3 times and put it in my script. Like after this recce, I saw a few locations which I loved and added them to my script. Particularly, the Dharamshala next to the Daliganj bridge. We’ll be shooting in that area.”
Abhinay plans to ring forth the unseen aspect of the city rather than concentrating on things already showcased on the screen before. “I don’t like shooting in locations where others have shot before. My film is not about showing off Lucknow locations. I don’t even need locations which are story-steal spots of the city, what I need is the underbelly. I don’t like to explore the superficial layer of a city, I like to get inside the skin. And if I manage to do that for Lucknow, it’ll be brilliant,” says Abhinay.
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