Kenny Deori Basumatary, who was seen in Shah Rukh Khan-starrer Jawan, says working in the Atlee directorial was “super chaotic” since the filmmaker “keeps coming up with new ideas all the time”. “He would suddenly have an idea and would shoot it the next day. During production, he’d say, ‘Abey yeh nahin, yeh chahiye’. It was amazing,” says the Assamese actor-director, whose film Local Utpaat was recently screened at The Himalayan Film Festival (THFF).

He adds despite the chaos and constant changes, the output was worth it. “When you see the end result, it is just amazing. As soon as the first teaser came up, one knew that people were going to like it,” he beams, adding, “A happy coincidence was that when I went to SRK’s office for the first time, that was the day when the first teaser had come out. I saw it and I was like, ‘Oh my God, I have got to act in this!’”

The film’s success and recognition, Basumatary says, was “definitely gratifying”. “Numbers, I feel, are a function of the hype behind a movie. Moreover, if the film’s content is significant, it will stick much longer. It’s like Swades (2004) and Chak De! India (2007) that is people still remember,” he shares.

Basumatary is glad that Jawan had a historic box-office success worldwide and also made strong statement. “Jawan had substance. SRK made a huge mark for himself and the entire industry,” he wraps up.