Upcoming Actor Saahiel Sehgall who plays the role of Omar on "how he got involved with the project"
Well so where do i start...ok... there was this program on sony pix called the gateway project for upcoming directors....judged by Ashok Amritraj, Anurag Basu and Rajat Kapoor...i'd done a short film for one of the directors in the top eight as the lead...a really talented upcoming director called David!...now he had networked with Onir on facebook...(we all know how active onir is on facebook!! ;-))...
Now luckily for me David had really liked me and was in touch with me so as soon as he got to know that Onir was casting for his next movie...Kill Chhabra...he asked me to send him my pictures and profile which he in turn sent across to Onir.
Onir liked my pictures and so i got in touch with him and he asked me to come down for a meeting and then eventually an audition. A couple of days after the audition i was on my way to Bangalore to celebrate New Year's when i got a message from Onir saying that they'd really liked my audition and would get in touch with me soon once they took a final call. Finally around the 1st week of January i got a call saying they wanted me aboard and he sent me a copy of the script to go through and take a call.
Frankly i didn't even want to read the script....i was very excited and it was a big opportunity for me so all i wanted to do was sign the dotted line as soon as possible! Once i said i was on we figured out the details and i signed on with Anticlock films for a two film contract!
The first one being Kill Chhabra! But Kill Chabbra got postponed due to some circumstances and then Onir told me that in the meantime he's planning to make a couple of shorts and so i expressed a desire to be a part of those and he said that he would get back to me if there was a role that he thought suited me!
A couple of months later i was chatting with him while he was in germany on a break...writing the scripts and he told me about Omar...as soon as i heard it i was excited coz i've always wanted to do intelligent cinema and play a variety of interesting characters...He told me that he was planning on auditioning for it but if i agreed he wouldn't have to...i was thrilled with his confidence in me...i immediately agreed but he asked me not to rush in and go through the script first since it was a bold part and a bold script!
So once i'd gone through the script...i got back to him even more excited and eager than before!...so that's how i got to be OMAR!!
As far as the experience goes so far...it's been incredible knowing both Onir and Sanjay...the first time i met them to sign the contract and stuff they made me feel totally at ease and they helped me clear out all the doubts i had as a newcomer about the contract n stuff and also were very flexible and asked me if i needed any changes to be made and got them all done. They are both absolutely down to earth individuals who i think are hard to come by these days and especially in our industry.I feel absolutely comfortable and at home whenever i go down to the anticlock films office for a meeting or a script reading or something.
Onir has always kept me in the loop with every single change that happens with the projects. Unfortunately i haven't had the chance of working together yet but that will change very soon come this august and i'm really looking forward to that. And i'm sure there will be many more such opportunities in the future.To a mutually rewarding and enriching relationship.
Team Omar. Cheers!
