‘Savi’ director Abhinay Deo says Divya Khossla doesn’t carry excess baggage, so he cast her

New Delhi: Filmmaker Abhinay Deo has opened up about choosing actress Divya Khossla as the titular character in his new jailbreak thriller ‘Savi’, sharing that he wanted an artist who is vulnerable, innocent, and doesn’t carry a very large baggage.

Talking to IANS, Abhinay shared about casting Divya, Harshvardhan Rane, and Anil Kapoor for his movie and explained the significance of the red dot on Savi’s name in the poster.

Abhinay said: “The casting of the film starts with the script. When the characters are written, their features come in front of us. So exactly what I wanted from these three characters, I will tell — first thing Savi had to be simple, vulnerable, and innocent, and I wanted an actor who doesn’t carry a very large baggage, like she has done some action film or some emotional drama. I wanted somebody who people will accept, for what we are giving in this character to the public. So that was Savitri a.k.a. ‘Savi’.”

The director of ‘Delhi Belly’ further told IANS: “For Satyavan’s character, I needed someone who is strong and has a very good background to him, but at the same time an honest fellow, who is caught in the middle of something. Harshvardhan’s character owes a lot to Savi.”

Regarding Anil, Abhinay said: “His character is a mystery in the film. The simple reason why Anil should be cast in any film — I think he is one of the few actors in our country — jinko aap kisi bhi role me daal do he excels in that.”

Speaking about the red dot on Savi’s name, the ‘Blackmail’ director shared: “The red dot represents her ‘suhaag’. So it is subtly put there. It is out there as a subtle messaging. It is not in your face, it is there, just about there.”

Abhinay added: “And the whole idea was that subtly, whether it is the promotions, it’s the poster, or the title, the film, or the performance, everything is loaded with layers of messaging that is put out there. And one of them is this. The red bindi, it’s like her bindi.”

‘Savi’ is a jailbreak thriller also starring Harshvardhan Rane and Anil Kapoor.

Directed by Abhinay Deo, the film is produced by Mukesh Bhatt, Bhushan Kumar, and Krishan Kumar under the banners of Vishesh Films and T-Series.

It was released in cinemas on May 31.

–IANS