Stolen, starring Abhishek Banerjee, dropped on Amazon Prime Video on June 4 and has been unanimously hailed for its subject, execution, performance and twists. What also grabbed attention was the fact that Kiran Rao, Anurag Kashyap, Vikramaditya Motwane and Nikkhil Advani have been credited as Executive Producers. Stolen’s producer Gaurav Dhingra spoke to Bollywood Hungama about this aspect and a lot more.
EXCLUSIVE: Akshay Kumar’s unexpected shoutout leaves Stolen producer Gaurav Dhingra SHOCKED: “He’s a BIG guy. Unki nazar mein yeh film aayi; bahut acchi baat hai”; reveals Aamir Khan’s work ethic on Mangal Pandey sets inspired crucial scene in Abhishek Banerjee-starrer
Gaurav Dhingra said, “I met Kiran when I was working on Mangal Pandey (2005) with Aamir while she was working on Swades (2004). Both were shot in the same town of Wai. I have known them since then. All four came on board (Kiran Rao, Anurag Kashyap, Vikramaditya Motwane and Nikkhil Advani) just last month as we wanted to take this film to a larger audience. Since they had seen it, they offered to help and were very generous. Vikram and Nikkhil saw the film right after we came back from Venice in 2023. They had offered to help since then. Then Anurag saw the film while Kiran watched it in December 2024. We had a couple of buyers. To add to the credibility of the project, they were gracious to be associated as executive producers. It was so kind of them.”
Once the film was out, a lot of Bollywood personalities showered praises. Akshay Kumar talked highly of Abhishek Banerjee and added that the film looks powerful. On this, Gaurav revealed, “It was a pleasant surprise to see a lot of people writing about the film. It made me realize that the film did touch quite a few people. Akshay Kumar also wrote; that it was quite shocking for me. I mean, he’s a big guy. Unki nazar mein yeh film aayi. Yeh toh bahut acchi baat hai! So, it’s reaching places, I guess.”
Besides Mangal Pandey, Gaurav Dhingra also worked on Aamir Khan’s Rang De Basanti (2006). He was the transportation coordinator on the former and production manager on the latter. When asked if Aamir Khan has seen Stolen, Gaurav Dhingra replied, “I don’t know.”
How was it working with Aamir Khan? Gaurav replied, “He’s a meticulous guy. He’s not a perfectionist as he is made out to be. But he’s very intelligent and wants to achieve great quality. There’s nothing called perfection. I can keep writing my script and can keep editing my film forever. Even when I look at my older films like Angry Indian Goddesses (2015) or Peddlers (2012), I want to cut 10-20 minutes out of it. So, there’s nothing called perfect. It all depends on where you’re standing in life at that time and what seems right to you then.”
He added, “When I was working with Aamir, I saw that he was so driven to achieve the best we could. We adopted the same idea in Stolen.”
Gaurav Dhingra then shared a fascinating trivia saying, “There’s a scene of the gunshot in Stolen. I especially bought a car for the shoot as I wanted to give the director and the DOP time to work in it. Hence, I bought the vehicle 2-3 months before the shoot. We designed all the camera angles, lights, etc. We also rented one car.”
He continued, “The headrests in the front seats don’t let you look at the characters behind. Hence, we created smaller headrests. On the day of shooting the gunshot scene, by mistake, we put the bigger headrest. We got the shot. KT (director Karan Tejpal) was happy and so was Abhishek as his actions were completely convincing. Then I noticed that the headrest was from the rented car!”
Gaurav Dhingra further stated, “Now the shot was filmed with the help of 4 cameras, 20 stuntmen, hundreds of extras and livestock. It was madness in the middle of the desert. Yet, I insisted that we should go for a retake. The light had gone by then. We could only shoot for 3-4 hours in the morning, from 6:00 am to 9:00 am. Hence, we had to shoot the same shot the next day. The second day, as soon as the glass broke for the scene, the sunlight poured into the car. It was magical. It was like God gifting us with that light as He wanted us to achieve that quality. It made the whole scene cinematic to another level.”
He remarked, “We didn’t compromise in any way. People might say that it’s an indie film. They put such labels. But the fact is that it’s an expensive film and we didn’t want to compromise. We wanted to achieve superior quality and that was our only goal.”
Since Gaurav Dhingra mentioned Peddlers, we had to ask him whether it can ever see a release in cinemas or on an OTT platform. Gaurav Dhingra answered, “I don’t know. You have to ask Eros. We put so much effort and money and sometimes spend 4-5 years making a film. And then when it doesn’t release, it is really heartbreaking. It was pretty long back, in 2011 and I have gotten over it.”
Peddlers starred Gulshan Devaiah and was directed by Vasan Bala of Monica O My Darling (2022) fame. Gaurav Dhingra said, “He’s a fantastic director. The film is really good. Hopefully, someday it’ll be released.”
More Pages: Stolen Box Office Collection , Stolen Movie Review
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