At the International Film Festival of India (IFFI), filmmaker Abhishek Chaubey discussed how actors in Ishqiya and Udta Punjab charged less than their market fees. The award-winning director spoke during a session titled “Micro to Millions: Low Budget Films Becoming Blockbusters”. He also credited his assistant experience with Vishal Bhardwaj for helping him understand cost management in film production.

Chaubey said that he joined Bhardwaj in 2002, his first project was Makdi, which was made on a modest budget of Rs 40 lakh. He said, “What I learned was that if you tighten your costs and work in a disciplined manner, there is a way to do it.” He said that working on big films during his assistant years taught him the importance of cost discipline.

“When I was assisting, I also worked on big-budget Bollywood films, and I saw a lot of wastage – sometimes because of the directors or the stars. One thing I learned was how to be disciplined, And that really helped,” said the Sonchiriya director.

Talking about his actors’ desire to charge low fees, Chaubey said, “When I directed films like Ishqiya and Udta Punjab – which were relatively not very small films – the stars in them did not charge market rates. They all worked for less money because I’m working firmly in the alternative space within the mainstream. Actors understand that it won’t necessarily be a money maker, but it can do a lot of good for their reputation. often helps them get better roles Helps, so there are incentives for them.”

Chaubey also talked about turning producer with his company McGuffin Pictures. His goal was to make films that he wanted to see. His first production, Konkana Sen Sharma’s A Death in the GunjMade on a small budget, but managed to recover its costs thanks to government rebates and a deal with Amazon.

“We made the film for very little money and shot it in Jharkhand, a place I know well because I grew up there. The government was happy that someone was shooting there and gave us the exemption to film the It cost Rs 4-4.5 crore, and the discounts brought down some of the cost. We were fortunate to premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival and secure a distribution deal with Amazon before the streaming platform became mainstream in India,” They Said.

Chaubey also talked about the making of the Malayalam film Undercurrent. He explains how he secured a last-minute deal with Kochi-based Center Pictures, one of the biggest distributors in Kerala. He said, “They liked the film and were ready to release it. When it comes to mainstream, we somehow managed to do it at the last minute. I would say we were lucky.”

Abhishek Chaubey last directed the Netflix series, Killer Soup.