Aakhri Sawal: At Filmibeat, we love interacting with artists, producers, directors and technicians, who are passionate about their craft. As we spoke with Nikhil Nanda, we got to know about his vision for Indian cinema and how he wishes to explore more in terms of content.
Nikhil Nanda is a first-generation entrepreneur, philanthropist and film producer heading Nikhil Nanda Motion Pictures. Nanda, who believes in combining business insight with narrative craft, created ripples with Aakhri Sach. This marked Tamannaah Bhatia’s Hindi OTT debut, as it released on Disney+ Hotstar (now known as JioHotstar).
Nanda’s film line-up spans regional and national projects. The portfolio includes the Bengali title Sentimentaaal and the pan-India film Jatadhara, featuring Sonakshi Sinha with Sudheer Babu. These projects underline Nanda’s interest in different audiences while staying rooted in Indian storytelling traditions.
Nikhil Nanda is now working on Aakhri Sawal with Sanjay Dutt in the lead. The film is designed as a tribute marking 100 years of the RSS. In an exclusive conversation with Filmibeat Chief Copy Editor Abhishek Ranjit, Nikhil spoke about his decision to back the movie that celebrates 100 years of RSS, casting Sanjay Dutt along with other stars. He bared his heart out as he fondly talked about his passion for cinema and how he intends to take things to the next level. From the Olympics 2036 to our common love and dedication to Lord Hanuman, we discussed a wide variety of topics.
Here are excerpts from the interview-
Ques 1-As a filmmaker, what is that one thing that you always keep in mind while giving a green signal to particular projects?
Unlike most of the filmmakers, I always believe that the audience is the most intelligent and mature one. So I don’t make a film where I’m trying to give out a message to them. I’m making a film where I’m putting facts in front of the audience and I’m letting them make a decision and a choice as to what they take out of it.
I think that’s been the biggest problem with most of the filmmakers, that they write a story which they feel is the way it should be presented. I believe in presenting facts and let the audience make a choice of what they take out of it.
Ques 2- Let’s talk about your decision to back Aakhri Sawal, a film which actually commemorates 100 years of RSS. Are you ready for both bouquets and brickbats? While it’s not a controversial subject, there is a certain section of the audience who will judge the subject matter of the matter. Will you ignore them or let your work speak for itself?
Absolutely, you said it, bullseye. I think India is one of the most beautiful democracies of the world. Everybody has a right to criticize, appreciate what we are doing. As long as I believe that what I am creating is going to intrigue the audience. So I will say this, 100 years, 100 questions.
The last question of all questions will be in this film. Because we will give all the answers. After that, you decide as audience, what you have seen in the film, based on certain facts, and what is your take away from it. There are people who can vouch for RSS having changed their lives positively. There are people who say RSS is a dividing force in the country. I have no comments to make on that.
I am only going to present last 100 years of facts in front of the audience, and let the audience have the take away from the film. We have done a lot of research. It’s almost 1.5-2 years of research work, which is going to come on the screen.
Ques 3- Is this the reason why you decided to keep the title as Aakhir Samal?
Yes, absolutely.
Ques 4- Walk us through the casting process. How did you decide which actor is suitable for this role? From Sanjay Dutt, Sameera Reddy, Neetu Chandra to Amit Sadh, the cast boasts of huge names. Were you a part of the casting process?
No, no. I have been involved in everything from story writing till right now, being at the shoot, overseeing every minor detail. I think the kind of intrigue we wanted to create, Sanjay Dutt brings in that intrigue with his 40 years of being in the industry.
We’ve got some fantastic, fabulous actors like Amit Sadh and the upcoming star Amoshi Chakravarti. They do a lot of hard work, so I see them rehearsing, practicing with their dialogues and everything, and coming very, very prepared on the set. Sameera Reddy, you could call it her comeback. She’s been a fantastic actor. This is her comeback. We have Neetu Chandra, who’s done a lot of good projects.
Hrida is a very hardworking girl. I think we did a lot of analysis in terms of who would suit what role and got these people on board. And here we are with a stellar cast, which I’m sure the audience is going to like what they do and how they do on the screen in our film.