Mumbai: Actor-director Balraj Syal recently shot his directorial ‘Apne Ghar Begane’ in Canada, a film is also produced by him. He shared his experience shooting for the movie in extremely cold weather and how he felt about being behind the camera.
“We shot this in minus 30-35 in winters when people don’t even prefer going out. We were supposed to shoot in the summer but couldn’t because of visa issues. I thought we would get a different look which will be very good so decided to shoot in winter. I’ve always wanted to be a maker of films. I wrote the film and my producers liked it a lot so they also asked me to direct the film,” he said.
This film stars Yograj Singh, father of Yuvraj Singh, Kulraj Randhawa, Roshan prince, Armaan Aujla and Rana Ranbir.
Ask him who his favourite director is, and he says: “One of my favourite directors is Rajkumar Hirani sir because all his films have so many emotions which excite the audiences. Anurag Kashyap’s way of storytelling is commendable. These are my favourite two directors.”
Talking about how it is to be behind the camera, he said: “It was really tough being behind the camera because it was very cold and our whole crew’s visa wasn’t on time and we were short of manpower. The Canadian crew and my actors were very supportive. Being an actor is not easy but being a director, you have to look after various situations. The work never ends. It was very tough and I also lost almost 10 kgs weight during that time but as it is said, all’s well that ends well. The film is very nicely made and I can’t wait for all of you to see the magic. The best part was that my wife was also there in Canada during the shoot which helped me a lot.”
He added: “I didn’t give much attention to writing while I was busy with my acting work but during covid time, I started writing again. Now I am working on other films and hopefully, we will start shooting for another film soon.”
–IAN