Lucknow lad returns for his film’s shoot

Sharad Raj set for action on his first fulllength movie that has been crowdfunded

This will be my first fulllength (90 minutes) feature film, which I always wanted to make in Lucknow. I am making it for Indian and international film festivals. SHARAD RAJ DIRECTOR

F ilm and Television Institute of India (FTII) alumnus Sharad Raj will be make his feature film directorial debut at his hometown Lucknow. Having worked with stalwarts likes KK Menon, Irfaan, Raghuvir Yadav besides being creative director of 25 TV shows, he has generated ₹30 lakh from crowd-funding for the film.

Shoot for ‘Eek Betuke Aadmi Ki Afrah Ratein’ will start on November 10 night at Janpath market.

“This will be my first fulllength (90 minutes) feature film, which I always wanted to make in Lucknow. I am making it for Indian and international film festivals. God willing, if it does well we may get a screen release, or else digital platforms are always there,” Sharad tells HT City. He is currently busy finalizing locations in the Old City. He will shoot the film in Lucknow and Malihabad.

Sharad has weaved in three short stories into a film. “Two stories are by Russian writer Fyodor Dostoyevsky — ‘The Dream of a Ridiculous Man’ and ‘White Nights’ -- while third one is ‘Binni’ by Mushi Premchand. These three stories will move side-by-side but are linked into one film,” he says.

Debutant Rajveer Verma (son of action director Bhiku Verma) plays lead in the film. It will have NSD alumnae Mia Maelze, who has done a few international Indo-French films, Agra girl Archana Gupta (done 14 south films) and English Vinglish fame Adil Hussain.

“The film will have some local actors too, including Puneeta Awasthi. We will start the shoot on Friday night with Rajveer, Mia and Aditi while Adil will join later. It’s a 20-day start-to-finish schedule. The crowd-funding for shoot has been done on Wishberrey. With friends and well-wishers around, we hope to take it to bigger levels,” he says.

Sharad has done his schooling from St Francis College before moving to Delhi for mass communication. “Thereafter I went to FTI, Pune. My father Dr Rajkumar is a well-know psychiatrist while mother is also a doctor. I have grown up in Alambagh and later lived in a house in Jiamau which now is Raj Scanning,” he says.

After FTII, he made telefilm Ek Thi Maria with Raghuvir Yadav and Irfaan which was also based on Fyodor Dostoyevsky’s story. He adapted Anton Chekov ‘Ward No 6’ that had KK Menon and Atul Kumar. “I have been creative director for 25 shows on TV, the prominent being Kumkum, Dil Mill Gaye while my last assignment was as programming head for Sahara Entertainment.”

The film will be shot in Hazratganj, Chowk and Gomti Nagar besides Malihabad and Rahimabad. “I will shoot in my old house in Alambagh where I grew up,” he says on a signing off note.

HT PHOTO Sharad Raj in Lucknow.