'A good story should be told'

Samit Kakkad’s debut feature film Aayna Ka Bayna represented India at 18 international film festivals and was also the first Marathi film to be dubbed in Hindi for Sony Max. He has now directed Half Ticket, the official Marathi remake of the National Award winning Tamil film, Kakka Muttai. “When I saw Kakka Muttai, I thought it was such a Mumbai film because the story is about two slum children. The Mumbai audience can relate to the rich-poor neighbourhood story. I felt that it is a good story that needed to be told,” says Kakkad.

So when he was approached by the producers to direct the film, he gave his consent, without thinking twice. And the best thing, according to the 36-year-old director, was that everyone associated with the project was on the same page when it came to maintaining the soul of the film.

“This story is universal and I thought it could be told in multiple languages. So, I was adamant to retain the soul of the story, and, thankfully, everyone in the team agreed,” he adds.

According to Kakkad, location is also one of the characters in the film. “We have shot the film at a ship breaking site and at Darukhana, which is one of the biggest slums in the city. We used this space because I wanted the boys in the film to treat Mumbai as their playground,” he says.

He also feels that the film will give a chance to people to relive their childhood. “Everyone wants to be a child but they are scared of becoming one,” he tells Metrolife.

Kakkad has worked with children before in Aayna Ka Bayna and says shooting with two boys in Half Ticket was a smooth sailing. However, he recalls how he had a difficult time shortlisting the lead characters. “We wanted the elder boy to be mature and angry, and the younger one to be carefree. And it was important that they shared brother bonding,” he says.

“For almost one-and-a-half month, we auditioned several boys across multiple schools – private and government, but weren’t able to find the right pair. Finally, we managed to find the best boys who were then enrolled in a 15 day workshop,” he adds.

He also feels that the digital medium has given a platform to the Indian audience, who is exploring world cinema, because of which they are open to watching different kind of cinema and stories. “I don’t want to spoon feed the audience. I want to create cinema that challenges them. Luckily, they too want to watch films that offer such content,” he says.