"I would have loved to shoot 'Filmistaan' in Pakistan"

Published June 12, 2014
'Filmistaan' is a story of what happens when a cinema-obsessed production assistant is held hostage in a Pakistani border village.
'Filmistaan' is a story of what happens when a cinema-obsessed production assistant is held hostage in a Pakistani border village.

First-time Indian director, Nitin Kakkar, said he wished he had a chance to shoot, Filmistaan in Pakistan too, reported Hindustan Times.

Lack of resources and complications related to filming in Pakistan kept Kakkar away from shooting his National Award winning film which uses Bollywood to bind India and Pakistan.

The movie, which released in India on June 6, has been lauded critically and commercially. Kakkar said there was always an effort to collaborate with Pakistan in "some way" on the film.

"We shot the whole film in 20 days. We didn't have anybody from Pakistan while shooting the film but (Pakistani singer) Shafqat Amanat Ali Khan has sung for the film. We are glad we worked with him because in some way we wanted to collaborate with Pakistan," Kakkar said.

Kakkar said that had matters been in his hands, he would've taken his crew and shot the movie across the border.

"We would love to visit Pakistan; but that's the reason for making the film. It's very difficult to visit Pakistan. I would have loved to shoot the film in Pakistan but you know how times are. It's not easy for a small film like ours. We couldn't afford to get stuck even for two days. We did our shooting in Bikaner (Rajasthan) and researched in Mumbai," said Kakkar.

Kakkar further added that the film was ready to hit the screens by 2012 but they had no funds to release it.

"We had the money to make the film, not to release it. The cost of production is less but the cost of releasing is a lot more. For a nobody, it takes time for you to make your film visible in the industry," said Kakkar.

The movie, presented by Shringar Film Pvt. Ltd. and UTV Spotboy, won the best feature film in Hindi title at the 60th National Film Awards 2012, the Silver Crow Pheasant Award for best debut film at the International Film Festival of Kerala and a special jury mention at the 2012 Busan International Film Festival.

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