Director Neeraj Pandey is back with Special Chabbis. His last film A Wednesday based on Mumbai blasts and the fight of a common man against the blasts received a lot of awards and critical acclaim. Once again Neeraj Pandey’s Special Chabbis is based on real life incidents. This time he has Akshay Kumar in the lead. Here the director speaks about his film and his experience of working with a super star like Akshay Kumar..

What took you so long after A Wednesday?

I was busy with this script I also got involved with the production of my Marathi film and later I bumped into Vikram Malhotra of Viacom 18 and they came on board to make this film.

Did you cast Akshay with the target to enter the elite club?

Nothing like that. When we started working on the project there was no number as such. They all have to operate in the same way and manage it on their own. We had extensive readings. There were group readings as well as solo readings.

Akshay is a superstar didn’t he come with that baggage?

We had Akshay as the actor and not the superstar in the film coming on the sets. He identified with the character completely. It was a terrific experience to work with Akshay as he gave his entire commitment for this project

How did Special Chabbis happen?

I was looking for a subject to develop into a script and I had read this newspaper report on unsolved crimes of India which took place in 1997 to 2005, this story line came back very strongly to me. I wrote the script and fortunately it turned out to be good and we decided to go ahead with it.

Wednesday was a thriller and so is Special Chabbis, what’s the difference?

The mood is lighter here. I have songs in this film. Wednesday was a commercial film but there was no place for songs.

How difficult is it to write a script based on real life incidents?

It’s the most difficult job because I had read about so many incidents and I met the cops and did a lot of research, their version of the story is a little different. It was a lot of work. We met quite a few people like the Central Bureau of Investigation (C.B.I) officials who were then in service now retired. It was an extensive preparation. I won’t glorify on that effort. Every project has its own challenges.