Villagers among Maoists make it to movie screen

Rajkummar Rao with villagers in Chhattisgarh

Shooting on a shoe-string budget wasn't the biggest challenge for Amit Masurkar, who shot Rajkummar Rao-starrer Newton in the interiors of Chhattisgarh. The director was keen on maintaining the authenticity of the film, which deals with a rookie government clerk being sent on election duty to a Naxal-controlled town in the state.

"We shot in Dalli Rajhara. My casting director and I cast locals from the villages near the Naxalite-controlled jungles," says Masurkar. A move that he thinks "made more sense" as the locals were already well-versed with the dialect. "We cast 100-plus people from over 10 villages," he adds.

Amit Masurkar

Ask him if they were intimidated to shoot in the Maoist belt and he recollects, "Initially, the idea was scary. But once we went for the reccee, we realised people don't care for Bollywood much. We told everyone how we are making a movie about elections and it has nothing to do with Maoism. As long as you aren't making anyone suspicious, you are safe."

Masurkar considers bringing the villagers on board a fine idea, as it helped in making the story more nuanced. "Some families were destroyed because the police charged them with false cases. Other families have been uprooted because of the violence around. We added these insights to our plot."