Actor Akriti Singh to debut as a film director with ‘Toofan Mail’

Every actor has a dream to direct a film one day. Not every actor’s dream comes true but actress Akriti Kakkar can boast of the dream, of directing a feature film, is coming to fruition. She has been associated as an actor with Films like Broken But Beautiful, Kamyaab, Breathe and Photograph. Akriti Singh is a prolific theatre director too. Now she is set to make her directorial debut with a Hindi feature film, Toofan Mail.

Talking about the subject of her first venture as a director, Akriti says, “I was intrigued by a true incident from 1970s, where a woman arrived at the New Delhi railway station claiming to be the Queen of Awadh, seeking to meet Prime Minister Indira Gandhi demanding to be allotted a palace to live in. This is a real story and has been covered by various newspapers and TV channels during that time. My film is a fictional take on this true event.”

Toofan Mail has been made using bare minimum resources, but it boasts of a lot of innovation. “Since we needed a railway station from 1974 and making the sets would prove very costly, we found a railway station that does not have digital display screens. The camera angles and lenses are chosen wisely to tell the story, but not reveal 2020 in the frames. Also, it is a story of/about Awadh and we shot it in Awadh – all the properties used in the film are authentic Nawab artifacts borrowed from the heirs of Nawabs from in and around Lucknow. One of them also acts in the film,” says the director.

She adds that despite the limited budget, there is no inauthenticity in any artifact or property – ranging from the colour and print of the currency in 1974 to big collared shirts and bell bottom pants worn by many. The cast of the movie comprises Akriti and Telugu actor Surya Rao, who makes his Hindi film debut with this project. “Everyone took up multiple tasks while making the film. I am the writer, director, editor, actor and the producer of Toofan Mail. The cinematographer is also the co-writer. All the actors doubled up as EPs and assistants director and sometimes even as spot boys,” she says.

Based on a real incident from the 1970s, the independent movie Toofan Mail will release on an OTT platform.