Daredevil Mustafa’s Abhay says Family Drama’s fun lies in the foolishness of the characters

Abhay is one of the central characters of debutant director Akarsh HP’s quirky comedy that releases in theatres on July 26

Abhay in a still from Family Drama

Daredevil Mustafa’s Shankara, Abhay is ready with his next, a quirky comedy called Family Drama that is releasing in theatres on July 26. Family Drama, which marks the directorial debut of Akarsh HP, is a film that Abhay actively sought out as one of his next projects, given that most of the offers he got after Daredevil Mustafa did not excite him much.

“I got 3-4 scripts after Daredevil Mustafa, which I didn’t like, because there was nothing exciting about the story or the character being offered to me. Couple of them were routine commercial scripts, in which I would be one of the characters, while one was a horror comedy that didn’t come across as horror or comedy. All of them were selling the idea, but not the story, script or character. Since I had worked in multiple departments during the making of Daredevil Mustafa, I knew I needed a project like that, which involves proper team work. This is probably why I was not ready to just land up on a set and work as an artiste,” says Abhay.

Family Drama is a comedy revolving around a bunch of morally corrupt characters, says director Akarsh HP

Before Family Drama, the actor got a film that was a relief from whatever other scripts he got. “The film has not been officially announced yet, but we have finished shooting it,” Abhay tells us. Around that time, he met Akarsh, who’d just done an independent film called Project Sharapanja, which Abhay got to see and really liked for its edgy and quirky narrative. Abhay did not have any other projects on hand at the time and was on the lookout for scripts.

“I wasn’t looking for full bound scripts and was okay even with basic plotlines that could be developed if they are exciting enough. Akarsh was also tired of writing full scripts that would then not be picked up. A common friend connected us and we began brainstorming ideas. This went on for about a month and nothing was really clicking for both of us, until Abhay came up with a small idea, which he wasn’t sure was enough for a feature film. I found it immensely thrilling and goaded him to expand it,” says Abhay.

Family Drama, he adds, is a not an eventful film; it’s a comedy revolving around a particular family and what they have to do to get their hands on some money. “The problem therein is that each member of this family is foolish in his/her way, which leads to the situational comedy in the narrative,” explains Abhay.

Family Drama like Parasite?

The actor is candid when he admits that in terms of ideation, audiences may feel that Family Drama bears similarities to, say, Parasite. “That’s not a conscious decision, but in the process of writing, we felt these were the right arcs for story progression. In fact, Akarsh and I discussed this because we did not want to have audiences think of us as wannabe filmmakers who’ve deliberately taken inspiration, but then we liked how the story was shaping up and kept it,” he adds.

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