Kunal Kemmu turns writer-director with ‘Madgaon Express’

Actor Kunal Kemmu, who started his career in films as a child actor, is all set to don the hat of director with his upcoming film – ‘Madgaon Express’. The film stars Pratik Gandhi, Divyendu Sharma, Avinash Tiwary, and Nora Fatehi in lead roles.

While stating that he had never really thought that he could direct a film, Kunal said, “People say that it is a product of love, but for me, it is a product of rage. I was very angry, I didn’t understand what was happening around me, I was sitting at home, I was feeling like I either remove all the anger on myself or do something that makes me and others laugh. That is how ‘Madgaon Express’ was born. These characters actually helped me a lot to come out of this phase in my life. They became my imaginary best friends and I started weaving my story around them. All I knew was that there are these three best friends who always wanted to go to Goa ever since they were children, however, their Goa holiday plans keep getting cancelled for one reason or the other. It is about these three friends from Mumbai, who are now around 30-35 years old, who finally get a chance to go to Goa. What happens with them there is what the story is about. I kept travelling with these characters in my head and I kept getting the story. These are not real life characters, but you when you start writing, you borrow few things from your own experiences, so some traits and nuances have been taken from friends.”

Kunal further said, “I feel blessed today. I happy to have got Farhan Akhtar and Ritesh Sidwani as producers, who not only liked my story, but have allowed me to do whatever I wanted to do.”

Despite being an actor Kunal chose not to act in this film and remained behind the camera throughout this film. “Honestly, when I decided that I would direct it, I had consciously decided that I would not act in it. I was starting something new, so I wanted to put all my focus on that. I didn’t want to act and pay attention to how my character looks and how I am performing  and all of that, I wanted to direct scenes perfectly. Since this is my debut as a director, I wanted to give my 100% to it. Now I am happy that I chose not to act, because all the actors did a good job and I may have not been able to do that.”