Abhinay Deo, director of Delhi Belly and Game, is now set to make a mark on the small screen too. His show, the Indian version of 24 is all set to go on air this week. Touted as one of India’s most stylised series, the director says the idea was to give it an international look with an Indian touch. He says, “Not many in India have seen the original 24 series. Even for those who have, we have kept the storyline very different, the punch points are totally different. However, there is a lot of Indian-ness too, which was the real challenge. I feel the audience is ready to accept something new. I’m not saying the shows that are getting high TRPs and working well are bad, but our show is different from what one is used to seeing — be it in terms of the thrill or casting and performances.” While Abhinay is happy that the series has turned out well, he reveals that the show had faced its share of setbacks. He says, “One memory that will stay with me is of one of our DOPs meeting with a bike accident while returning home after the shoot. He lost his life. I was close to him and so was the rest of the team, but the next day, everyone turned up for the shoot, with the spirit that work must go on. Similarly, actress Anita Raj lost her father Jagdish Raj during the shoot, but turned up on the sets the next day saying that is what he would have liked her to do.” A lot of the action sequences for 24 were shot on the crowded streets of Mumbai. Telling us how that was pulled off, Abhinay says, “It was one difficult task because Mumbai’s streets are always crowded, be it day or night. We shot at places like Byculla, Currey Road and Wadala. So we had Anil Kapoor with some 3,000 people on the road. We requested people not to look into the camera as a shoot was on and most of them were understanding but managing the crowd wasn’t easy.” While the show has a lot of film actors, including Anil Kapoor, Anupam Kher and Richa Chadda, Abhinay says he’s impressed that everyone put in the same amount of effort that they would for their movies and no one questioned the amount of footage they would get. Speaking about film projects, the director added, “I have three scripts being developed, on one of which we’ll start work around April-May.”
