In Maximum City: Bombay Lost and Found, author Suketu Mehta described Bombay as “the city of dreams where nothing is as it seems”. Filmmaker Sanjay Gupta feels it’s an apt description of the city that plays a prime role in his next, Visfot. Mumbai’s contrasts—wealth and poverty, tradition and modernity, ambition and despair—became the perfect backdrop for the filmmaker’s desi adaptation of the Venezuelan film Rock, Paper, Scissors (2012).

“Mumbai is not just a backdrop; it’s the heartbeat of the stories I want to tell. It’s a city of dreams, but also of harsh realities. In Visfot, we continue my love affair with Mumbai, using the city’s gritty locales to the film’s themes of conflict and redemption,” shares Gupta.

The Riteish Deshmukh and Fardeen Khan-starrer plays out over a day, as two men from opposite backgrounds find their fates intertwined. It’s an unusual casting decision, considering Deshmukh is usually seen in comedies and Khan has returned to movies after a 14-year hiatus.

Gupta says, “I am the biggest Feroz Khan fan, and Fardeen has his father’s screen presence. I was delighted to work with him on this. When people watch the film, they will ask, ‘Why was this guy not around for a decade?’ He and Riteish bring a brilliant on-screen face-off.”

The producer found the right director in Kookie Gulati, who previously helmed The Big Bull (2021). “I was mighty impressed by The Big Bull and knew I wanted to work with him. Kookie has elevated the material with his incisive direction. I never needed to visit his set, he ran the show gloriously.”

Visfot is slated to première on Jio Cinema this week. Does it bother him that the action thriller is OTT-bound instead of getting a theatrical release?

“The film was made for OTT from the word go. We cannot undermine the power of OTT. During the lockdown, we saw how the viewing patterns changed.”

But it is a stressful market to release films in, when a movie’s success or failure is unpredictable. How does it affect independent producers? “It makes us feel alone. To be empowered to tell a story in its truest sense, you need immense logistical support. That becomes much harder in a shaky market. But this is also the time where passionate storytelling will take precedence.”