Prosit Roy, known for directing Pataal Lok, is back with Raakh, a web series currently streaming on OTT. The crime thriller, based in the late 1970s, is inspired by the infamous Ranga-Billa case, involving the duo behind the kidnapping and murder of siblings Geeta and Sanjay in Delhi in 1978. It stars Ali Fazal, Sonali Bendre, Aamir Bashir, Rakesh Bedi and others. In a Zoom video interview with The Free Press Journal, Prosit opened up about the making of Raakh, casting choices, and how certain issues need to be portrayed sensitively and in the correct manner, something Bollywood does not follow very often.
Excerpts:
When and why did you decide on making a series on the Ranga-Billa case?
So firstly, it is inspired by that case, not based on it. We wanted to use that just as a germ, as a starting point, to tell the story of that time. There were many other things which we wanted to explore through this series, the most important one being how it changed the landscape of our country. Earlier, we used to take lifts from cars passing by, we used to talk to strangers, but this incident changed all that. Raakh isn’t about the crime; it’s about what our country was before this crime and how it changed because of it, and also the people involved.
Were any of the cast pre-decided?
When I first read the story, one thing I was sure about was that I didn’t want this to become yet another crime show; we already have too many of those on the OTT space. So, it was very important for me to find somebody who had never worn the police uniform in any of his work in the past, so Ali fit the bill, of a policeman who was an introvert and looking for his identity. For Rajjo and Babu, right from the beginning, I was absolutely clear that I needed newer faces, so there’s an element of surprise and also you don’t have any preconceived notion about them. We must have auditioned over 1,000 people for that role.
Just curious, but did Rakesh Bedi’s casting have anything to do with the success of Dhurandhar?
No! We actually shot this much before Dhurandhar came out. We wanted someone who could look like Ali’s father, but we didn’t want a quintessential regular cop father. We all know what a fantastic actor Rakesh Ji is, and he has done very few serious roles, something which I wanted to break. For Sonali ma’am, I was very sceptical — we didn’t think she would say yes, because she’s used to doing certain kinds of roles in the lead. But thankfully, the moment the narration finished, we could see that she had tears in her eyes and she said that she really wanted to do this. Aamir too, I wasn’t sure, would say yes, so I ended up calling my friend Avinash Arun to talk to him, which worked out.
I must congratulate you that you made a series revolving around a crime that involved rape, but avoided showing the act of rape. That is something Bollywood unnecessarily and unfortunately overdid in the 80s and 90s.
I always thought from the get-go, that what I wanted to focus on was the bravery of these two children. They were the real heroes. I wanted to show the courage which they showed in that moment. That’s why we also showed that scene where the brother uses his boxing skills to fight the killers.