Vatsal Sheth: Debut short film as director is 'like a child to me'

MUMBAI: Actor Vatsal Sheth turned director with a short film during the ongoing lockdown period, and he thinks the effort is no less than his child.

Vatsal's short film "Kahaa Toh Tha", running over six minutes, stars the actor with his wife Ishita Dutta, and explores love in the times of quarantine.

"I was having a chat with a friend of mine and I was telling him how much I miss shooting and the regular schedule. While talking to him, I realised, I am an actor, Ishita is an actor. We have phone cameras and basic stuff to shoot. I called a friend, he wrote this story for us, then we sat down on storyboarding, shot division and everything came together. That's how this film came to life," Vatsal told IANS.

Vatsal plays Abir, a restless but loving husband to Myraa, a thoughtful and caring wife. The middle-class working couple realise that their marriage is not that perfect, while they are stuck together in the lockdown.

"We settled for this story because it's a sweet, nice and feel-good short film. We as a couple were able to relate to it and we thought a lot of couples might feel the same way," he said.

The film was completely made during the lockdown.

"We used our phone cameras to shoot the film. It was just Ishita and I, we were moving the furniture everywhere. We would shoot the scene, run back to the frame to check if everything was done right or if we had fumbled or if we needed to do a retake. Lots and lots of hard work has gone into it. But it was definitely a lot of fun," said the actor about its making.

Vatsal has also launched his production house Vatsal Sheth Films.

"After we made the film, I roped in a lot of good technicians who made the movie as it looks now. We got Mehul who has done music for 'Tanhaji' to do background score for us. We bought in an editor, we brought in someone to make creatives and do colour correction. It was a lot of to and fro but in the end, I am really happy with how it has turned out! And none of us have stepped out of the house to do anything, we all have done the work from our homes and made sure that the film reaches you the best it can," he said.

He is very happy with the final product.

"It's like a child to me. It's my first film as a director. I am very excited, although it's a short film, I have worked as hard on it as I would on any other project. I am also thankful to the team at Times Music, they have taken over the project and they are releasing it. I am very excited about this journey," he said.