Creators Vikramaditya Motwane and Satyanshu Singh talk Black Warrant, their creative collaboration after 15 years, and their Tihar experience

Do peacocks visit Tihar? In the prison-drama series Black Warrant, the central jail might be slithering with both literal and metaphorical snakes but the peafowl becomes the symbol of hope. “Birds don’t chirp there,” says creator Satyanshu Singh, reminiscing the time when he, along with showrunner and co-creator Vikramaditya Motwane, had visited Tihar prison for research. “For some reason, they know this is not the right place,” he adds. “But surprisingly, during our visit, we saw a peacock. It sat for thirty seconds and then flew away. That’s when we knew we had to keep them in the show.”

The Netflix series, based on the book Black Warrant: Confessions of a Tihar Jailer by journalist Sunetra Chaudhary and former jail superintendent Sunil Gupta, stars Zahan Kapoor as the latter, young, wet-behind-the-ears jailer learning the ropes of Asia’s biggest prison. He is bossed around by the calculative DSP Rajesh Tomar (Rahul Bhat) and has a live-wire Haryanvi Dahiya (Anurag Thakur) and a pacifying Punjabi Mangat (Paramvir Singh Cheema) as colleagues. “Everybody in Tihar, be it the prisoners or the jail staff, was a character straight out of a film,” says Vikramaditya. “There was a muscular senior police official in a well-fitted uniform, a DSP who was in charge of the kitchen was a big film buff.” Satyanshu adds, “And that too of world cinema. He was quoting (Akira) Kurosawa!”

Black Warrant is ostensibly the only show in India set almost completely inside a prison. Vikramaditya says that for visual inspiration he only had western films and TV series like The Shawshank Redemption (1994) and Mindhunter (2017-19). “There is a certain cinematic way in which the American and European jails are shown, we don’t have their counterparts in India,” he says. “Tihar doesn’t have those dim-lit corridors like they show in American dramas. It’s more open and has gardens. It’s actually quite peaceful.” Talking about their vision for the series, the makers say that more than knowing what to do, they were concerned about where not to go. “It was a big responsibility. We knew we were making the definitive prison show for India,” says Satyanshu. “What we didn’t want to do was a depressing, grim, political commentary. We wanted to show character journeys and not have a voyeuristic but an empathic gaze.” Vikramaditya credits Satyanshu for having everything mapped out. “This time, I finally experienced what being a showrunner feels like. Whenever anybody used to come and ask me little details like how a cop should wear his cap or how many stars should be on his shoulder, I just redirected them towards Satyanshu,” says Vikramaditya. “It actually became a running joke, where we said that Satyanshu was the set’s Sunil Gupta.”

Vikramaditya and Satyanshu go long back. The latter started his film journey by penning the poems written by the young protagonist in Vikramaditya’s debut feature Udaan (2010). Satyanshu, also a known screenwriting teacher, then went on to direct a children’s film called Chintu Ka Birthday (2019) for whose script he says Vikramaditya was “the biggest champion.” In an Instagram post, Satyanshu spoke about how, years after Udaan, he was approached by Vikramaditya to collaborate on the series. “May 26, 2020: @motwayne calls me. “I’m sending you a book. Read it and we’ll talk,” he wrote. “I felt Satyanshu was the person who would dig deep into something like this,” says Vikramaditya. “He loves research. If I tell him to read one book, I know he will devour five others.”

Vikramaditya and Satyanshu might be the captains steering the ship, but there were other sailors on board too. Directors Rohin Nair, Arkesh Ajay, and Ambiecka Pandit helmed specific episodes. “They had to look seamless,” says Rohin, who has worked with Vikramaditya before on Bhavesh Joshi Superhero (2018) and AK vs AK (2020). “For me, it will be the biggest compliment if the episode directed by me blends in. But, if not for the audience, I know which parts of the episode were purely me.” Arkesh adds that although Vikramaditya was on sets every day he didn’t meddle with their process. “We had full freedom. He never sat down with us to dictate what needs to be done,” he says. Ambiecka goes on to add, “Vikram actually started his work before the shoot. He gave each one of us episodes that we were suited to direct.”

Vikramaditya Motwane is a true versatile artist. Unlike his counterparts like Anurag Kashyap, Imtiaz Ali, and Dibakar Banerjee, he can’t be stamped with the badge of a certain kind of cinema. Following his debut with the coming-of-age film Udaan (2010), he created a period romance (Lootera, 2013), a survival-thriller (Trapped, 2017), and a vigilante-actioner (Bhavesh Joshi Superhero, 2018). On OTT, he helmed the gangster-saga Sacred Games (2018-19), meta comedy-thriller AK vs AK (2020), tinsel town drama Jubilee (2023), and recently the screenlife-thriller CTRL (2024). “People, however, have told me that the running theme in my filmography is trapped characters trying to find their salvation,” says Vikramaditya. “I don’t know about that. What excites me is a new idea, a new story, taking it and building it up from scratch. It is the excitement of the chase.”

News Credits: Cinema Express

Actor Ronit Roy’s security firm will be looking after Saif Ali Khan’s security following the stabbing incident.

Actor Saif Ali Khan was all smiles as he reached his Mumbai house on Tuesday, after being discharged from Lilavati hospital. The incident at his house on January 15, where an intruder broke in and stabbed Khan six times during a scuffle, had shocked the country. The security of the building and his personal team was called into question. In a major move, Saif has now decided to employ the services of actor Ronit Roy’s security firm.

Also read: Saif Ali Khan ditches wheelchair, walks back inside his home surrounded by police after discharge from hospital. Watch

When we reach out to Roy, he refuses to divulge details on the kind of security cover provided to him but adds, “We are already here with Saif. He is doing fine now, and has come back,” he confirms.

Khan was in the hospital for five days, and the industry had made a beeline to come and check up on him. His wife, actor Kareena Kapoor Khan meanwhile had expressed her displeasure at the paparazzi still clicking their house even after the unfortunate incident, via an Instagram story. But she pulled it down later. The accused in this case has been arrested by the Mumbai Police, and they took him back to Khan’s house to recreate the crime scene on Tuesday.

News Credits: Hindustan Times

CDS Anil Chauhan, Army Chief General Upendra Dwivedi, and Chief of Air Staff Air Marshal Amar Preet Singh also watched the film.

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh attended a special screening of the film Sky Force with actors Akshay Kumar and Veer Pahariya. Taking to X (formerly Twitter) on Tuesday evening, he shared a bunch of pictures. The screening was held at the Air Force Auditorium in New Delhi.

(Also Read | Sky Force actor Veer Pahariya praises ‘nearly family’ Janhvi Kapoor, admits taking tips from brother Shikhar’s GF)

Rajnath Singh watches Sky Force with Akshay Kumar, Veer Pahariya

In a photo, Akshay and Veer Pahariya posed with the dignitaries. For the screening, Akshay sat next to the defence minister. Apart from Rajnath Singh, CDS Anil Chauhan, Army Chief General Upendra Dwivedi, Chief of Air Staff Air Marshal Amar Preet Singh, Navy Chief Dinesh K Tripathi, and officers from the armed forces also watched the film.

Sharing the pictures, the minister wrote, “Joined CDS and three service chiefs at the special screening of Sky Force. The film narrates the story of Indian Air Force’s bravery, courage and sacrifice during the 1965 War. I laud the makers of the film for their efforts.”

News Credits: Hindustan Times

The actor talks about the delayed release of Emergency, his experience dubbing for Allu Arjun’s Pushpa films and more

Kangana Ranaut’s political drama Emergency has been through multiple delays ever since it was announced a few years ago. The biggest blow came when its release was halted just a week before it was supposed to come out on September 5 last year, following objections from certain members of the Sikh community. After this, the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) reviewed it again and suggested a few cuts. Shreyas Talpade, who plays the role of a young Atal Bihari Vajpayee in it, said that it was a tough time for the entire team.

Now, the film is set to be released in theatres on January 17 and Shreyas feels happy that everything is clear. “I think what has happened is behind us and we are looking forward to the future,” he says. Apart from Emergency, the actor has been spreading his creative wings as a dubbing artist in recent times. When he voiced Allu Arjun’s Pushpa: The Rise (2021), it quickly broke into the psyche of the Hindi audiences. For them, it carried something more. Shreyas says that he was inspired by Amitabh Bachchan during the dubbing process.

“Growing up on Bachchan films, I used to recite his dialogues and mimic him so many times,” he says, mentioning some of his iconic lines, including, ‘Rishtey mein toh hum tumhare baap lagte hai, naam hai Shahenshah’ from the vigilante-actioner Shahenshah (1988) and ‘Aaj khush to bahut hoge tum’, from his seminal cop-drama Deewar (1975). Even Pushpa’s affirmative proclamation, ‘Main Jhukega Nahi’, resonated in a similar appeal with people, inspiring a host of memes and enactments. “We had no clue what was going to happen with the dialogue. Now, it’s become like a cult line,” says Shreyas.

The actor also feels that coming back to dub for Pushpa 2: The Rule, brought along some pressure after the success of the first film. “There were no expectations during the first time. We just wanted the film to do well,” he says. “But this time, there is already an aura around the character through social media videos and that brought in some pressure to deliver.” He sees the overwhelming worldwide success of the film as an indicator that language doesn’t really matter in films. “Now, the word is ‘Pan India’. If a film is something with which people connect, they will just go all-out to watch it,” he says.

Shreyas began his journey as a dubbing artist with the animated musical The Lion King (2019), voicing the chirpy character of Timon. His free-flowing additions to the character in the Hindi version of the film make for some genuinely funny moments. “I had a ball of a time dubbing for that film. Timon as a character is so bubbly, fresh and all over the place that it made the process so much fun,” he says. Shreyas feels that he just tries to enjoy the moment when he is dubbing as there are fewer responsibilities compared to acting. “While acting, there are a lot of thoughts running in your head: how are people going to react to my performance? Am I serving the character well? Is my director happy? But while dubbing, you just need to justify the efforts that other actors have already put on-screen and try to make it better.”

The actor recently completed shooting for Housefull 5, which stars an ensemble cast of Akshay Kumar, Riteish Deshmukh, Abhishek Bachchan, Dino Morea, Jacqueliene Fernandez, Chitrangada Singh, Nargis Fakhri, Sanjay Dutt, Chunky Pandey, Fardeen Khan, Sonam Bajwa, Nana Patekar, Johnny Lever, Soundarya Sharma and Nikitin Dheer. Shreyas is returning to the comedy franchise after the second film, which was released in 2012. He says that having such seasoned actors allows for a lot of improvisations on set. “A lot of suggestions are given about what we feel we can do with our character and the film. But eventually, we always follow the conviction of our director, Tarun Mansukhani,” he adds. The film is set to be released on June 6 this year.

News Credits: Cinema Express