Mumbai, Maharashtra: During an exclusive interview, the cast and creators of the recently released series 'Raakh', including Ali Fazal, Sonali Bendre, Aamir Bashir, Akash Makhija, Ramandeep Yadav, Prosit Roy, Anusha Nandakumar and Sandeep Jain, discussed the extensive research and craftsmanship involved in recreating late-1970s India. The team highlighted their commitment to authenticity from period-accurate police procedures, costumes, and language to the use of vintage vehicles and meticulously designed settings. Director Prosit Roy and writers Anusha Nandakumar and Sandeep Jain shared insights into the film’s world-building, character arcs and the challenges of bringing a bygone era to life on screen. Meanwhile, actors Ali Fazal, Sonali Bendre, Akash Makhija, and Ramandeep Yadav reflected on their performances, emotional preparation, and the complexities of their characters. The conversation also delved into the film’s exploration of violence, human nature, trauma, justice, and societal decay.
#Raakh #AliFazal #SonaliBendre #AamirBhashir #AkashMakhija #RamandeepYadav #PrositRoy #AnushaNandkumar #SandeepSanket #vintagevehicles #complexcharacters #violence #humannature #trauma #justice #societaldecay #Trending #BollywoodNews #BollywoodGossips #BollywoodUpdates #BollywoodNews #Bollywood #Bollywoodcelebrity #BollywoodHindiNews #ians
#Raakh #AliFazal #SonaliBendre #AamirBhashir #AkashMakhija #RamandeepYadav #PrositRoy #AnushaNandkumar #SandeepSanket #vintagevehicles #complexcharacters #violence #humannature #trauma #justice #societaldecay #Trending #BollywoodNews #BollywoodGossips #BollywoodUpdates #BollywoodNews #Bollywood #Bollywoodcelebrity #BollywoodHindiNews #ians
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FunTranscript
00:00So hello everyone, welcome to NS and congratulations for Raakh that has released on Prime Video.
00:05My first question is for the makers.
00:08Police procedural drama, him going on the field work, there's a whole universe that
00:14has been created which is in sync with the India of the late 1970s.
00:17What did it take to put it all together in terms of the production design, the costumes,
00:22the art and everything?
00:25Especially the cars, the fleet.
00:27Yeah, so let me start with the other, this thing and then we'll come to the casting.
00:32So we did a lot of research, you know, there was one level of research which happened when
00:37Anusha and Sandeep were writing.
00:38So that research was also there and then when I joined in, there was one more level of research
00:44which happened because that was more detailed into the casting of the period, the production
00:51design, all the buses, cars, everything.
00:55You know, on that level we did a research.
00:58And then, you know, we also met policemen from that era.
01:04You know, they told us about how the hair should be, how the moustaches should be.
01:09So initially, in my head, I was planning to give Ali a look like Vinod Khanna.
01:14And then, you know, I was told that it doesn't happen.
01:17That's not, you know, because we are all influenced by the 70s films.
01:21But those are not the right references.
01:25So eventually, we dig deeper.
01:27I had a very good team of my assistants.
01:29They all dig deeper into it.
01:30And we managed to pull out all the references.
01:34And then, after that, we made it together, you know, we created this period with each department.
01:43And a lot of it is also how it was shot.
01:47Because the shooting structure, that was also quite very different.
01:53Because we had one type of light, you know.
01:57So the tube lights were just been introduced.
01:59So, if you can see, there are tube lights in the police station.
02:03But in the rest of the house, all the tungsten lights are there.
02:06So, a little bit, a little bit, we built the world.
02:11And you also asked me about the casting.
02:14Casting and the fleet, the cars.
02:16Fleet of the cars.
02:17Fleet of the cars.
02:18The cars were very, very difficult to find.
02:21You know, we had a lot of hard time.
02:23We lost a lot of time, actually, because of the cars.
02:26Because these are very, very old cars.
02:28We had a team of mechanics, who had to fix it all.
02:31But, you know, they are not in running conditions.
02:34So, every time before the shot, you know, it was closed.
02:38And some of it was, you know, it was so small.
02:42I mean, Ali had a lot of trouble.
02:43Because he was the one who was driving the cars.
02:46Some of the time, sir had so much trouble.
02:49Because the scooter, he was driving.
02:50You know, ride.
02:51The moment I would say, action.
02:53And the scooter stopped.
02:55Same with their bike.
02:56You know, we were right in the middle of a very, very, you know, active action scene.
03:02And Ali was driving.
03:04And he was driving.
03:06He was driving.
03:06He was driving.
03:08He was driving.
03:08And Ali was driving.
03:10So, there were a lot of comedies happened because of this.
03:14Of these vehicles.
03:16And in terms of the casting, I mean, I always wanted to work with Ali.
03:21You know, we were trying to find that one particular, you know, story in which we can work with.
03:33And from the very beginning, we had thought, me, Anusha and Sandeep, we had thought that we will cast somebody,
03:41who has never seen that uniform.
03:43We have never seen that uniform.
03:46So, all these things came together.
03:49And you ended up.
03:49I didn't get it.
03:55Okay.
03:56And Sandeep, would you like to add anything to this?
03:59In terms of casting or putting the entire show together, the technicalities and the logistics.
04:07See, let me begin from the beginning.
04:09Actually, when we started writing, creating this world, you know.
04:13So, there are a lot of research went into creating this world.
04:17Like, you know, making them believable.
04:20Making them, setting them in certain period of time.
04:23Like, you know, 1970s, late 1970s, 78.
04:25It was a difficult task because we were not there.
04:29We were not around that time.
04:30And we didn't have any references.
04:32Newspaper clipping, some, you know, some article from here and there.
04:35The way people used to watch films, you know.
04:39Who were the heroes that people were worshipping.
04:41And who were the villains that people were actually not, you know.
04:45That their society was like, you know, springing upon us.
04:49So, and a big part of actually bringing that, you know, detailing in that world is the language.
04:56Mm-hmm.
04:57Which is his language.
04:58Yeah.
04:58Now, we speak Hindi.
05:00We speak Hindi.
05:01We speak Hindi.
05:01We speak Hindi.
05:01It was a little bit of a mix of Hindi.
05:04So, the language was very important.
05:07So, Aayush, who has read the dialogue, there is a lot of poetry in their language.
05:15So, that was one thing.
05:17And plus, also imagining all these people.
05:19Because they're all like, you know, three, four different parts of the universe that exist.
05:25Every set of characters.
05:26Ali's character, Ma'am's character, Ma'am Sir's character.
05:28These two guys.
05:29You know, they all exist in different realities.
05:31Mm-hmm.
05:32And making those realities true to that time, that took a lot of effort in creating those things.
05:37Okay.
05:37And my next question is for Sonali, Ma'am.
05:40To play the character of Mona, she's so grounded and she speaks through silences.
05:44Because she has suffered the trauma, you know, there's something that's weighing down heavily on her.
05:48What was that for you to…
05:50Sorry, could you repeat that?
05:51I couldn't hear you.
05:52Sure.
05:52So, to portray your character completely in silences with a few dialogues.
05:56I mean, I'm assuming it's a treat for any actor to not take the help of the crutches of dialogues
06:00and to purely move through their eyes and their facial expressions.
06:03What was that for you?
06:04And how did you arrive at that performance?
06:09So, I had just the most fantastic material to work on and that was totally…
06:14You heard about all the preparation that was done.
06:18So, quite frankly, 50% of my work was already done.
06:21More than 50%, I would say, was already done.
06:23Because they gave me such amazing material to work with.
06:27After that, all I had to do was just add a couple of things to it to make it my
06:32own.
06:33So, thanks to them, it was great subject matter that was given to me.
06:39Right, as of now, I would say that not having dialogues was the easier part for me.
06:44Because earlier in life, you could read the whole page and remember it.
06:48But my memory is not what it used to be.
06:50So, the fact that I don't have to remember dialogues was actually the fun part for me.
06:56But jokes apart, when there are no dialogues, it is more internalized and that also makes it more real.
07:05There is a different struggle with that.
07:07And the struggle was that when you internalize it so much was the how do you leave it behind.
07:13So, this was one character that I did struggle to leave behind on the sets.
07:19I did carry it home sometimes and that was scary for me.
07:23And Ali, coming to you, I think there is a dialogue in 7th or 8th episode wherein,
07:28Inspector Solangi tells Jai Prakash,
07:30He responds,
07:34Could you please help me understand the subtext to that entire scene or to that line?
07:41I mean, you know, these guys will explain it far better because they created those lines.
07:45I tried not to divulge from the script and get it right.
07:53I think it's, he is desperation in that moment.
07:57You know, look at the larger picture.
07:59It's as straightforward as that.
08:01He's on a mission and he's trying everything in his power and not in his power also.
08:06Lying through his, you know, I mean, just through and through and getting his way.
08:12But eventually gets caught and benched almost.
08:15It's like a little school scene, you know.
08:18But, yeah, he's really desperate because it's, he's just been missing these guys like by a very small distance.
08:26And it's converging.
08:27Yeah.
08:28Finally at that moment.
08:30And after that, you'll see what's happening.
08:32So, yeah, I think that's what he said.
08:35It's a desperation.
08:37And that was the thought.
08:39Okay.
08:40And kya field work, Jai Prakash ka Hathiar as Rakesh Bedi says, sir says in the, one of the earlier
08:45scenes that you have to search for your own weapon.
08:47Was field work his weapon?
08:48Am I reading it right?
08:50Yeah, I mean, we all have to find our own weapons.
08:52And I think that is one of the most profound lines in the show.
08:59Or somewhere he understands that.
09:01And he comes into it over the course of this period.
09:06Mostly in, I think, the second half of the show.
09:09Earlier part, I think he's also into his own, trying to just get a case and solve it.
09:15But then the case grows onto him.
09:17And you also start thinking like these people.
09:20Right?
09:20He has to.
09:21He has to be able to catch up.
09:24And I think that's why that final release happens.
09:28Okay.
09:28And Amir sir, coming to you.
09:30I distinctly remember the scene wherein the mother refuses to accept.
09:34She's in pure denial that these are not her kids.
09:36While I understand where she is coming from, but that's also cruel up to a certain extent for these children.
09:41Because only their father is there to bid the farewell to them, the mother is not there.
09:45While you were shooting that particular scene, what was their brief to you?
09:50The maker's brief, the director's brief.
09:51And how did you go about emoting that?
09:56Do you remember the brief?
10:02No, I don't think there was any specific instruction.
10:06Even because, like I said, these are things that you can't really prepare for.
10:13That includes Mona's reaction.
10:18So, other than really being, it's like a double whammy.
10:23The fact that we have lost our children.
10:26Now, the mother or my wife is reacting in a way which is, you know, what do I handle in
10:35this situation?
10:36Yeah.
10:36So, it's a question of basically your world falling apart in every sense of the word.
10:44So, that's basically what I was going through.
10:49Like, what do I turn to?
10:52Again, and that was the interesting part for me in this character is that somebody who comes with this kind
10:59of training and army man and this and has achieved this and has been a war veteran.
11:04And his crumbling was the interesting part.
11:08It was something, you know, you are supposed, where he is supposed to do the opposite actually.
11:14He is supposed to take control.
11:16He is supposed to have, you know, you would, he has been in command.
11:19He has commanded people in, you know, adverse conditions during wars.
11:26And he is, so, for him to be completely helpless simply because, you know, no amount of training can prepare
11:36you for something like this.
11:38So, that was my, I mean, the appeal of the role as well as, I mean, the thinking behind.
11:46Okay, okay.
11:47And Anusha, coming to you, being a journalist, I have a fair bit of experience dealing with the cops, the
11:53police station and everything.
11:54Back when I used to handle crime.
11:56I want to talk about the tertiary and the secondary casting.
11:59And how did you go about writing those characters that we see that might, we might miss them in a
12:04blink of an eye, but they are still there.
12:05They are part of the system, a huge part of the system.
12:07How did you go about crafting those characters?
12:09You mean especially for the cops or like overall?
12:11Yeah, for the cops.
12:13So, with the cop station, we wanted to create characters who would be allies to Jayaprakash.
12:22Because there, we felt like it would be a place where they are sharing food together.
12:30You know, Baoji comes every day with mutton.
12:32Food becomes like a easy place to kind of bond.
12:37So, we always knew that they were all bonding for various reasons.
12:41They also all respected JP's character because JP has earned his place in a, like in a, he has come
12:48up the hard way.
12:49You know, he studied.
12:50He has really fought for his place in the sun.
12:54And it was important to have like the different characters around him who are his safety net.
13:00Because he is fighting his superiors in a way.
13:03He is fighting the system.
13:04He is fighting his identity.
13:06His, you know, what he is going through.
13:09So, it was nice to kind of have like a team that he knows has his back.
13:13He knows they would lie for him, lie to him, lie for him.
13:17And he also knows that they are all like, you know, brothers in arms.
13:21So, we imagined what that world would be.
13:24We would discuss, you know, what happens.
13:25Like where would they eat food?
13:27What would they be doing?
13:29Are they spending time outside of work?
13:31And even like a smaller thing, like everybody knows that JP or Nisar ga kuchh chal ra hai.
13:35So, but they are having each other's backs, you know.
13:37So, that was the cop station that we imagined.
13:41That it's like a fun workplace that JP likes going to.
13:44And so, then he likes those people.
13:46So, then we need to like those people as an audience.
13:49Okay.
13:50And Akash, for your character of Babu.
13:53He is a psychopath.
13:55He is a maniacal.
13:57And of course, he is a narcissist.
13:59To completely shed off your inhibitions and dive nose down into this character.
14:03What did it take from you to not judge the character and still give everything that the character demands from
14:10you?
14:10I think as you said that he is narcissist and he believes that, you know, world revolves around him.
14:16And he has the main character energy, I feel.
14:19And whatever he thinks the people around him are, they are just a small part of his own story.
14:26And he'll take what he wants and he'll just hunt for it.
14:30So, I mean, that was the brief I had in my mind.
14:34And I just, you know, for Babu, I felt that,
14:38If he wants to get him, then he'll take it.
14:40So, not even for once, I thought,
14:44I would sympathize with a little character.
14:47Nothing.
14:48So, I think out and out, this was the brief also.
14:52And I think more than anything, it's written that way.
14:56If you see throughout the script, the whole character, it's written.
15:01So, you know, at times, you know, when, like, you know, that's how the writing is.
15:08You don't have to search a lot about it because it's on there.
15:11Like it's in the script.
15:12So, yeah.
15:13And apart from that, it's some, I think, observation.
15:17And, you know, like I grew up in boy school, in government boy school.
15:21And I've seen brutal things happening in my own class.
15:27I think the geometry.
15:31Yeah.
15:32I've seen people, like, you know, kind of, you know, scratching each other with that.
15:37In boy school, it happens.
15:40We'll talk more.
15:41Yeah.
15:42So, I think I've seen a lot of such things happening in schools.
15:47So, I think also from the world out there because I think these, I think the characters are also part
15:53of the society.
15:54So, this exists.
15:55This is definite.
15:56I don't know if it still exists.
15:59Yes, it is.
15:59When I was growing, I was in boy schools and I've seen so many brutal things.
16:03I can't even talk about it.
16:05And I mean, this exists for sure.
16:07And looking at this character, my immediate attention was drawn to what Alex D. Large did in Clockwork Orange.
16:13Did you model this character on?
16:22I've seen a lot of, you know, a lot of cinema, Sid Damer or Jeffrey Damer.
16:30There are many characters.
16:32But, you know, when I think about Babu, there was no particular reference.
16:39Sometimes, it happens to me that I can see a lot of things.
16:42And maybe I can do that.
16:44And later, I realized that maybe I picked him from there.
16:48He doesn't know himself how to do it.
16:50But I think major thing is that I shall do it out of my mind.
16:57Like, I prepare a sketch in my own mind that he would, in this particular scene, I want to walk
17:04like this.
17:05I want to, you know, say my lines like this.
17:08So, it's that.
17:09I mean, if I take a reference, I think I'll kill my own sketch, whatever I have in my mind.
17:14Okay, okay.
17:15And Ramandeep,
17:17You have to be a Saiya to his character.
17:20There's a line where Alit says, towards the end of the 7th episode, I guess.
17:25Or at the start of the 8th episode.
17:27He says that these people don't think.
17:28They're just doing it.
17:30To be in that state of inertia.
17:32To not think before doing anything.
17:34And to follow his lead.
17:35What was that for you to perform?
17:37As an audience, if you can see it, you'll feel that they don't think.
17:42But when you have to think about it as an actor, you have to think about it.
17:46Even Rajjo thinks about it.
17:48Because the character of Aakash, I believe that he's brutal.
17:52He doesn't think about it.
17:53He said that he's my world.
17:54If he doesn't think about it, I'll try to shoot.
17:57This is a development of slowly.
18:00It's not the first thing.
18:01He says that he doesn't know what he does.
18:03Why do I do this?
18:04But when we talk about survival,
18:08There's a tendency to be survival.
18:11When we talk about survival,
18:11We don't want to see the most of them.
18:13We don't want to see ourselves before.
18:16Another thing,
18:17The other thing,
18:19I've seen my backstory,
18:20My character's backstory.
18:21He's from Haryana,
18:22And his wife is from emergency.
18:25So,
18:26How did he deal with this?
18:28How did he come from Bombay?
18:30How did he come from Bombay?
18:30How did he leave his village?
18:54How did he come from?
19:01make up with that.
19:04So I asked him if I had a photo before the short made it.
19:09He had a picture that he wanted me to do.
19:12So that I have had time for me and I said,
19:16yeah, please, go get in?
19:17If I had no visual I was going crazy then it could be impossible for me.
19:22I would just imagine.
19:23So they sent me full photo.
19:27And when I hit the Sahil,
19:39So, I had to see how it feels, if it gets hit, how it gets hit.
19:46So, when I saw the music that Sir has given me a character for the playlist,
19:50When you listen to the music, you are standing in the zone.
19:56Our show's lighting was so good that when you go to the music,
20:01you feel like, bro, I am.
20:06That's the only thing.
20:08You should have fun in your work.
20:10You should be brutal, you should be innocent.
20:13But you should have fun.
20:15If you don't have fun, you will stay in the middle.
20:19I have a question for you.
20:21Violence has been a huge part of the human history.
20:24Not just humans.
20:26Chimpanzees have gang wars.
20:27There is a war between two groups.
20:29They do unspeakable things to each other.
20:31Similarly, since we come from that lineage,
20:33it has been a part of our history throughout.
20:35Religious wars, conquests, disharmony in the society.
20:39What are your views on violence and how does it shape up the society in the longer run?
20:45I think violence should not be there.
20:48You know, I think that is my only view on, I mean, in society,
20:55already there are a lot of violence, you know, all over.
20:58There are probably three, two, three wars which are being fought right now,
21:04you know, in the world.
21:05I mean, much violence should not be.
21:09You know, it should not be.
21:11Zero violence.
21:12And that is my only thing.
21:14And sometimes what you have to do is that,
21:16this violence is so much on our four sides.
21:18We keep becoming numb towards it.
21:22Desensitized.
21:22So, you need to shake things up.
21:25And that is when you make shows like this.
21:28So that you realize what is darkness and you value the lightness.
21:35I want to say something actually.
21:37When you were asking about tertiary characters in these two guys and violence,
21:41so I was actually wanting to talk about tertiary characters.
21:45So, like, you know, there is, like, you know, you talked about the tertiary characters
21:48of the cops specially.
21:49And you talk about, there is Pyare Mohan.
21:52You know, there is Dhani Ram.
21:53There is Ballu Sodi.
21:57There is Bindiya.
21:58You know.
22:00And we are the series.
22:01Babu's mom.
22:02Babu's mom actually, you know.
22:04So, these are the people, like, you know,
22:06we are, like, the series is primarily about, like, you know,
22:09what these guys did to the kids of these two parents.
22:12You know.
22:13Unka, unke bacho ka kya hua.
22:15But the effort has always been, like, you know,
22:19so, when we came to the tertiary characters,
22:22so, the tertiary characters, if it is not,
22:23that there is a character to fill the characters.
22:26They all are the victims of these two guys.
22:30Every single person has different kind of victim mode from these guys.
22:34These guys have ravaged through that landscape.
22:37You know.
22:38And that is where they actually, you know, destroyed so many lives.
22:41We are talking about like,
22:42they have solved the case, JP has solved the case.
22:45But there are so many unsolved cases.
22:47So many unsolved tertiary characters, as you say.
22:50So many unsolved lives that these guys have destroyed.
22:52You know.
22:53That is what you want to talk about ki.
22:54These criminals, you know, they never commit one crime.
22:58They commit a series of crime.
22:59You know.
23:00And different magnitude, different, say, extremity of different crimes.
23:06And that is where, like, you know, these guys come along.
23:10And Ali, my next question is for you.
23:13Praseed was talking about that there should be no violence in the society.
23:16Now, there is a line in the 8th episode wherein Dibyandu sir says,
23:20kye samaj sarne ki taraf aage badhra hai.
23:24What are your views on entropy?
23:25That once it kicks in, it like, destroys everything that comes in its way.
23:29Okay.
23:30It's the very nature, I suppose.
23:33There is violence in our nature as well.
23:35I think it is there.
23:37I mean, you are a Kubrick fan.
23:38You know.
23:41It's the start point only is, I have something that you don't.
23:45You know.
23:46And I think that one-upmanship is what is carrying the world forward in some way or form.
23:51Sadly, you know.
23:52That is, I have something that you don't.
23:54That is, there is a product bhi bikra hai hai.
23:56That is, there is a nuclear war bhi chal rahi hai.
23:58That is, there is a politics bhi chal rahi hai.
24:00That is, you know.
24:01Everybody gets patur.
24:02Somewhere in that you find a, you know, a balance.
24:07You call it the male-female balance.
24:09You call it the duality.
24:10Whatever.
24:13I, I can only hope that we understand what it really means and the effects of it.
24:19Because this is real.
24:21Like, it in real time affects people.
24:24And it's happening now as we speak, right?
24:26Like Roshit said, there are wars happening.
24:28We don't even go outside our country actually.
24:31There is enough.
24:31We have enough stuff happening here.
24:33So, that's it.
24:35That's the idea.
24:36Like, stop.
24:37And maybe, just maybe like, understand.
24:40You know, how that one strike really translates on the other.
24:44On skin.
24:45On flesh.
24:46Yeah.
24:46You know.
24:46When flesh burns, what really happens?
24:49You have to understand that.
24:50You don't have to feel it.
24:51God forbid, you have to go through that.
24:54Yeah.
24:55Perfect.
24:55So, with that, we have reached the end of this conversation.
24:57Kuchh ase baat joo mujhse puchhnei rahe gai hai,
24:58you haap kuchh khahna chahte hai hai.
24:59So, you can say.
25:01Thank you so much.
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