‘We shot amid death threats’
Satya Dev recalls his experience of shooting in Afghanistan
On Sunday, Satya Dev shared a poster and song video of his yet to be completed Hindi film Habeeb on his Twitter page. Directed by Jennifer Alphonse, the film revolves around an Indian Army Officer dad (played by Satya Dev) who goes in search of his son who was made to cross the border with other children and sent to Afghan to operate in their terrorist activities.
The actor revealed to us that he’d shot for this film in 2017. “When I heard the script, I thought the film will be an adventurous ride as we would shoot in Afghanistan. I was aware that it could be risky to shoot there but my passion for cinema pushed me ahead,” the actor recalls, adding that they were the first south Indian film crew and the second Indian film (the first being the 1992-film Khuda Gawah) to shoot in the region.
Forty percent of the film was shot in Kabul, which lasted for 35 days in. But with bomb blasts and death threats they had to endure, it
Swas hardly a smooth ride, Satya Dev tells us. “Remember there was a twin bomb blast by the Taliban militants near the Afghan parliament in Kabul in January 2017? We’d shot at that location just the before day. The local authorities too constantly kept us alerting that Taliban has come to know that we’re shooting a film here. So we never stepped outside after 6 pm,” the actor recalls.
He furher recounts that once the shooting was halted by the local policemen. “Looking at what I was wearing, they thought I looked like a Taliban member,” he says. “They checked all our crew’s passports
atya Dev is ecstatic that his recent release Thimmarusu has struck a chord with the audience. audience. To him, the success of the crime thriller is a validation of the audiences’ faith in him. “It proved that the audience is always game to appreciating films with engaging content. I was a little apprehensive as to how people would receive it, especially during the pandemic. But the film’s success added to our confidence as well as that of the industry and and eventually, the Indian Embassy officials intervened and confirmed our identities.”
Despite all these scares and disturbances, Satya Dev describes shooting in Kabul as a truly adventurous experience. “The people are warm and friendly and the landscapes are picturesque,” he adds.
An eightminute long soulful song in the film, which narrates the plight of a father, was also released. The song’s Afghan version has been sung by the famous singer Qais Ulfat.
paved the path for other film releases too,” he explains.
“It’s an emotional moment to note such a heartening response from the audience in such trying times. I was overwhelmed,” he shares, adding that the success means a lot to him. Also, it had been widely speculated that Satya Dev would star in the Telugu remake of Malayalam film Nayattu. But the actor clarifies those are only baseless rumours.