How screenwriter Apurva Asrani’s Personal Loss Shaped The Pact, the first film under his new production house

When his father was ill for months, screenwriter Apurva Asrani found himself “grappling with an impending life without him”. He also felt he should resolve all their differences before it was too late, but that wasn’t possible. “In the years after his death, I have found myself having conversations with him, not as a parent and a child, but as friends. It’s like I knew the father but never met the man till after he passed three years ago,” recalls Asrani.

One incident, in particular, stayed with him: a rare moment of vulnerability when his father broke down after hitting him. His father promised him it would never happen again and even signed a pact to that effect on a random piece of paper. The short film The Pact, recently released on YouTube, features Parambrata Chattopadhyay is Asrani’s way of “understanding both that pact and the man I made it with.”

The Pact follows the story of Raghav (Chattopadhyay), a corporate professional, who returns to Pune to settle what he believes is the final remnant of his past: his late father’s home in a railway colony. As he revisits his childhood home, he realises his sacrifices remain largely invisible, yet foundational. Asrani has co-produced The Pact with Lakshami Iyer, who has directed the film.

Asrani wrote the first draft in August last year. “By September, we were shooting… and by November, the DI (post-production digitisation) and music were completed. The last time I saw such a quick turnaround was when I made the Tera Mera Pyar music videos that launched Nimrat Kaur. There’s a certain kind of honesty in projects that don’t over-marinate,” says the writer, who just launched his production house, Apurva Asrani Films, and adds, “I fear we have almost lost the auteur, the original thinker, the trendsetter. What we have now are clever products with saleable one-liners that are a marketing team’s delight.”

For Asrani, who has worked on projects such as Satya, Shahid, Aligarh and Criminal Justice, the best work is one that remains closest to its original intent. “The more independent the process, the less diluted the emotion. Releasing The Pact on YouTube was a conscious choice. It’s not about bypassing platforms; it’s about taking responsibility for the film, how it’s made, shared and finds its audience.”

It was Iyer who suggested Asrani write something for his father. They had Parambrata in mind but wondered if they could afford a Kolkata-based actor. Coincidentally, Lakshmi met the actor at a coffee shop in Mumbai the very next day. “It felt like he too wanted to say something deeply personal through the film. As we spoke more, I understood the grief he was still carrying after losing both his parents. Lakshmi and I were striving for truth, but Parambrata became it,” shared Asrani, who also edited the film.

The producer believes “there’s a space between the big-budget, multi-star spectacle and the intelligent, abstract art-house film.” “It’s the middle-of-the-road, relatable, warm, emotional story that speaks of family, relationships, coming of age and empathy. I want to build in that space, where a modest budget, good actors and, most of all, a well-cooked script can create an entertaining film that begins some sort of inquiry in the viewer; a film that will be remembered far beyond box-office collections.”

Alaka Sahani is a prominent film critic and journalist based in Mumbai. With a care... Read More