Director Kookie Gulati is not quite done with thrillers yet. After the R Madhavan starrer Dhokha Round D Corner, the director’s next is Visfot, which stars Riteish Deshmukh and sees Fardeen Khan return to the screen after 12 years. The movie — an official adaptation of the 2012 Venezuelan film, Rock, Paper, Scissors — sees Deshmukh as a pilot who races against time after his son is mistakenly kidnapped by Khan’s gangster character.

Gulati is particularly impressed by Deshmukh, who has brought vulnerability to his character that is caught between his love for his son, and a simmering anger at his wife’s infidelity. “Visfot will bust the myth that Riteish can only do comedy or rom-coms. It will [showcase] his scope as an actor,” he says. 

After producer Sanjay Gupta bagged the remake rights, Deshmukh was among the first artistes to be associated with the project. “Riteish came on board before me. His is an emotional part, and the title [encapsulates] his emotional outburst. We didn’t have rehearsals as I wanted his emotions to be natural. I wanted it to look raw and real. I would rate it among Riteish’s top three performances. Fardeen had a different approach to his character and underwent rigorous training.”

Rock, Paper, Scissors was Venezuela’s official entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 85th Academy Awards. The director has reimagined the movie for the Indian audience. “Emotions are the high points of that movie, but we have [heightened] it because Indians are more emotional. To me, Visfot is an ode to Ram Gopal Varma’s Satya, in which we see Mumbai’s underbelly.”