Director Syed Ahmed Afzal looks back at the making of his crime drama, 2016’s Laal Rang, which starred Randeep Hooda, Akshay Oberoi, and Piaa Bajpai.
How did Laal Rang happen?
I would’ve completely missed Laal Rang, as a film belonging to my filmography, if I wouldn’t have had met this young, passionate and aspiring lad from Haryana. Pankaj Matta was an aspiring screenwriter who had come once seeking guidance on screenwriting. Now, he’s an established screenwriter, and I’m quite proud of him. Pankaj had a story, loosely based on a real-life event, which he had witnessed during his days pursuing a pathology course at a government facility in Karnal. The idea didn’t click with me initially, but surprisingly haunted me for several days; A film based on Blood. Through a brief web research, I found several films with blood and gore, but very interestingly, I couldn’t find a single film that was based on blood anywhere in the world. I told Pankaj, “Let’s start writing,” and thus Laal Rang was born.
How did you select Randeep Hooda?
Since the film was based in Karnal, and was quite rooted in its narrative, it had to be someone from Haryana to don the protagonist’s role. We had very limited choices during that time, but I recalled discussing a name with Pankaj during our writing days. And I immediately called up my best friend in the industry and now a very Senior Casting Director, Kunal M Shah. Told him that I urgently need an audience with Randeep Hooda, as there is no one else I can think of, who can play Shankar Singh Malik. The role was tailor-made for him. Kunal had access to Randeep Hooda, and in a few days, I found myself narrating the Laal Rang script to Randeep at his home. The narration extended its time frame. Randeep had to leave for Mahalakshmi Race Course for his horse riding and I was nowhere near the climax. Randeep was already quite hooked to the script and he also couldn’t leave it mid-way, so he suggested me and his manager, Panchali Chakraborty, to accompany him and continue with the narration in his car. It was also decided that Panchali’s car would follow us. Just before reaching the Bandra-Worli Sea Link, we were done with the narration. Randeep asked his driver to stop the car and, without giving any feedback, asked us to return to Andheri in Panchali’s car. I thought he didn’t like the script, but few minutes later on our journey back to Andheri, Panchali received a call from Randeep. I just stared blank at Panchali while she was on the call. Hanging up, she turned and announced Randeep likes the script very much. I shall never forget that day. It was so dramatic. I would like to mention here that Kunal M Shah was the most instrumental in putting up the entire film together, taking it to a producer, and also giving me the best ensemble cast I could have ever imagined.
Laal Rang is still watchable?
The film has great recall value owing to its characters, even the smallest ones, and the talented actors who portrayed those roles. Apart from Randeep Hooda, the primary cast included Akshay Oberoi, Pia Bajpai, Meenakshi Dixit, Rajniesh Duggal, Shreya Narayan, Rajendra Sethi, Jai hind Kumar, Abhimanyu Arun, Kumar Saurabh, Ashutosh Kaushik, Rehan Kidwai, and each one of them literally lived their character.
Tell me about the shooting of the film.
When it came to executing the film, the first objective was to get on board the best technicians. Since we had a limited budget, it was quite an uphill task, but we managed somehow. Guess, I was quite lucky to have a unique and challenging subject with me, which made the film look prospective to the technicians. Majority of HODs hailed from the Pune, Film and Television Institute. Most of them, being young, had the right amount of fire and passion needed for this film. I had a simple vision and that was to keep the milieu as authentic as possible, and we together worked in achieving it. There were quite a few hiccups from the Production’s end, but with the unflinching support of my team, we sailed past. Thought it was quite an exhaustive and draining process. During our two months stay, we shot for nearly 53 days, covering each nook and corner of District Karnal. The last Bollywood film shot in Karnal 27 years ago was the Cult Classic Waaris, Starring Smita Patil, Raj Babbar & Amrish Puri. During the shooting I met many locals who recalled the filming of Waaris at Karnal. Laal Rang was amongst the first few films in recent times to be fully shot in Haryana. Laal Rang opened the floodgates, and Karnal became a sought-after city for several Bollywood films, which were shot later.
