The acclaimed director of several National Award winning Marathi films, Umesh Vinayak Kulkarni is not new to the concept of multi-starrers or ensemble cast. However, with his upcoming film 'Highway', the noted filmmaker seems to be setting a record of sorts with casting as many as 30 actors, all in lead roles.

Kulkarni shares that there is no one protagonist in Highway and that each of the characters tell a unique story of their own. "The film is a journey of each character, so there`re not any one or two particular protagonists as such. All share equal space and are multi-dimensional, like any one of us. It was also a great learning experience as well as a humbling one for us, since all these established actors had so much faith in me and Girish (actor-writer Girish Kulkarni) who has written them and done full justice to all. Even for the actors, the length just didn`t matter and that kind of faith definitely boosts my confidence as a storyteller."

The starcast includes Huma Qureshi, Tisca Chopra, Renuka Shahane, Girish Kulkarni, Mukta Barve, Sunil Barve and Nagraj Manjule amongst others.

'Highway' is slated to release on 24th July 2015.