Abhinay Deo: Thought of Delhi Belly sequel every week for 10 years

A still from Delhi Belly

In Abhinay Deo's world of imagination, the mythological story of Savitri blends with the fictional story of a Russell Crowe film. The result is his latest release, Savi. Starring Anil Kapoor, Harshvardhan Rane and Divya Khossla Kumar, the thriller - that sees the protagonist plot her husband's escape from prison - is a modern take on the story of Savitri and Satyavan. "There is something powerful in the mythological story of a woman who brought her husband back from the jaws of death. The challenge was to match up to the magic and strength of the original story," says the director.

Divya Khossla Kumar in Savi; a still from The Next Three Days

Savi is inspired by Crowe's jailbreak thriller, The Next Three Days (2010), which was in turn a remake of the French film, Pour Elle (2008). But the director and his team "turned the screenplay on its head." "We bought the rights. Russell Crowe is an out-and-out action hero, but the gender change added layers to the story. The Indian ethos gave it a cultural grip. The motivations changed as soon as we made the central character a woman."

Abhinay Deo

Deo broke into Hindi cinema in 2011 with the black comedy, Delhi Belly. Now, with its leading man Imran Khan teasing a return to Bollywood, has he considered making a sequel to Delhi Belly? "I have thought of a sequel every week for the past 10 years. As much as we love the film, we also know how meticulously it was made. Under the garb of comedy and [expletives], we had a sharp movie. To put all those factors together and make a movie that is relevant today will take time. In some time, we hope to put pen to paper and see where it takes us."

For now, he is looking forward to his OTT debut, Brown, which was the only Indian show at the 2023 Berlin Series Market Selects platform. Led by Karisma Kapoor, the series revolves around a world-weary detective in the Kolkata police force, who is tasked with investigating the murder of a young woman from a prominent family, while battling her past. "We are hoping to release it in about three months; it's in the last leg of post-production."