Abhishek Banerjee on Why He Pitched 'Stolen' to Other Actors
Directed by Karan Tejpal, 'Stolen' is led by executive producers Anurag Kashyap, Kiran Rao, Nikkhil Advani and Vikramaditya Motwane.
Can a historic ₹600 crore blockbuster change the way an actor chooses his next film? Not for Abhishek Banerjee, who insists the success of Stree 2 has led him to greenlighting two more independent films and going against industry convention.
Banerjee brings up the example of his latest, Stolen. The Karan Tejpal directorial, after winning acclaim across several film festivals, is gearing up for a Prime Video Release.
"The success hasn't changed me. Like, I knew I was doing Stree 2 when I signed Stolen. That actually empowered me to take more chances. In fact, after Stree 2, I have signed two more films, which are being made independently. That's the kind of balance I want," Banerjee tells THR India.
Led by executive producers Anurag Kashyap, Kiran Rao, Nikkhil Advani, Vikramaditya Motwane, directed by Karan Tejpal and produced by Gaurav Dhingra, Stolen follows the intense journey of two urbane brothers who witness a baby being kidnapped from an impoverished mother at a railway station in rural India.
One brother, Raman (Shubham Vardhan) guided by moral duty, convinces the other, Gautam (Banerjee), to help the mother and join a perilous investigation to find the child.
When the makers had approached Banjeree, the actor was being considered for the character of Raman. Later, when they approached him to play Gautam, the selfish sibling who just wants to be away from any mess, Banerjee, who is also a casting director, started approaching actors.
"I recommended multiple actors for my part... I was supposed to play Raman, the righteous guy. When they approached me to play Gautam, I asked them to approach others! I even texted many actor friends of mine and tried to get another actor on board, but we couldn't find one. I had told them that keep me as the last option. So I didn't have much time to play Gautam, which was actually great, as I learnt on the go about the character," he adds.
Written by Tejpal alongside Dhingra and Swapnil Salkar - Agadbumb, Stolen also features Harish Khanna, Mia Maelzer and Sahidur Rahaman.