Saahil Prem was never supposed to direct Mad About Dance (MAD). “I turned director out of necessity and then fell in love with the process,“ he says with a smile.

He has a point. Here's a little flashback: What would you do if your director and cinematographer deserted you on the third day of the shoot of your debut film, a project which has been your dream for the longest time? Few would have the guts to pick up the baton and keep going, but that's exactly what the young actor did, when his director Abraham Cherian and cinematographer Arvind Kannibiran allegedly left the team high and dry in the UK.

“Those first three days in Sheffield were a nightmare for the unit," recalls Saahil, adding, “There was hardly any creative interaction between the actors and the director, we didn't know what we were supposed to do in front of the camera. The crew was demoralised."

It was then that the production-in-charge asked Saahil to intervene. “When we tried to speak to them, they got abusive. That really got me. I decided that I was not going to let anyone mess with the film and conveyed that to them in so many words,“ he says. In fact, the situation turned so ugly, Arvind and Saahil are said to have almost come to blows during a meeting.

What worsened the crisis was that when Abraham and Arvind left for India, they allegedly tried to take back with them some members of the technical crew. “They probably wanted to make the situation even worse for us, but that made me even more determined," Saahil says.

Having assisted Vipul Shah on Namastey London, he then took this film forward. And if the industry is to be believed, the young actor-director has done a decent job, too!