Pawan Kumar backs ‘Ikkat’, film about couple in forced

Director duo Esham and Haseen says the lockdown inspired them to make the comedy-drama

‘Ikkat’, directed by brothers Esham and Haseen Khan, is a Kannada film inspired by the 21-day lockdown announced in March last year due to the Covid-19 outbreak. The film received a major boost when Pawan Kumar of ‘Lucia’ and ‘U Turn’ fame recently decided to present it.

The team was planning to release the two-hour film on an OTT platform. “Nagabhushana, our lead actor, is Pawan’s friend. He suggested that we should show the film to Pawan. He watched the film with his family and loved it. We believe the story, performances and our direction convinced him to present it under his banner,” says Esham.

The trailer of the comedy-drama, which also has Bhoomi Shetty, was released on March 24, which marked the first-year anniversary of the lockdown. ‘Ikkat’ means congestion or a tight situation, much like a lockdown.

The film is about an unhappily-married couple on the verge of a divorce.

Esham says, “A few of our projects were stalled during the lockdown. That’s when we decided to work on a script based on the lockdown itself. The story is about a couple who have to unwillingly live together for 21 days.” The director assures that there is a mystery element in the story.

He observes quite a few challenges during the shoot. “We shot the film after Unlock 1, with a 15-member crew. We shot in natural light as there were no light men. The film was shot indoors and all of us were doing everything,” he says.

“Composing varied shots with limited space and to keep the story interesting were quite difficult,” Esham adds.

Esham and Haseen are the men behind the first Kannada webseries ‘Loose Connection’. Their ‘Hate You Romeo’ is awaiting release. “We understand each other well and think alike. We don’t need to communicate a lot. We wanted to work on something that would test us. It took seven days for us to write the idea and 15 days to complete the shoot,” he says.

‘Ikkat’ is awaiting censor certification. “We are looking at a May release,” he says.

Impressed

Nagabhushana says he was thoroughly impressed by the concept.

The actor knew the director-duo through their earlier projects and had an idea of their potential. “Concepts around the lockdown were new and it was interesting to see a couple struggling during that time. Esham told me that it would be a funny tale,” he says.