Amid all the tension around with the pandemic, actor Akriti Singh got a the good news recently that her directorial debut, Toofaan Mail has been chosen as the opening film at the UK Asian Film Festival. However, Singh reveals how her happiness was dimmed by the fact that she won’t be able to travel to the UK for the premiere.
“Its quite a bummer. This is my first film and I won’t be able to attend the premiere. The first time my film will be screened in front of live audience, and I won’t be there to see their reaction. I was so excited, but, now UK has placed all restrictions on travellers from India,” she laments, adding, “Nonetheless, I’m looking forward to getting some audience reaction.”
The film will be screened at the Belgrade Theatre on May 27. Singh reveals that she’ll be attending an online Q & A session post the screening. “If travel restrictions are eased, I might attend the festival in person,” she hopes.
Singh, who has been a part of projects such as Broken But Beautiful, Breathe, Kamyaab, Photograph, has directed 14 plays till date. So was turning director a natural progression for her?
“Deep in my heart I’m an actor. The craft of acting is such that you slowly start to understand the process a little bit more and when you go deeper, you start to realise how a story is formed. Over the years, while honing my craft of acting, I acquired these things by osmosis. They were around me and they seeped into me,” says the actor-director.
Though theatres are shut right now in most parts of the country, she hopes to have a big screen release for her debut film. “I’m still looking for a theatrical release. But because of the pandemic, everything is very uncertain. I would like to go to theatres first than to an OTT platform. I’m keeping my fingers crossed. I hope we can recover from this and people get to watch my film in the cinemas,” she concludes.
