‘Sanak’ director Kanishk Varma: Hostage drama is a popular genre in Hollywood

Director Kanishk Varma is all set to release his upcoming hostage drama film 'Sanak: Hope Under Siege' starring actor Vidyut Jammwal. While the actor is already known for his action in film, Varma reveals that the action sequences in this story are inspired from Hollywood flicks and works of author Vince Flynn.

Varma tells us, “It (hostage drama) is a very popular genre in the West but it is very difficult to crack it. ‘Sanak’ was born out of lockdown because last year somewhere around January or February, I was working on something else which involved going to four to five continents and then lockdown happened. So I thought of taking up something which is production friendly and which I can do within an enclosed space. I have always been a fan of ‘Die Hard’ which is a genre in itself. Films like ‘Speed’ and ‘Air Force One’ are actually ‘Die Hard’ on a bus and aeroplane respectively. It just became a genre in itself.”

Further elaborating on how he has made the action sequences different than what audience usually sees, Varma says, "There are a lot of real life incidents in ‘Sanak’ that we have taken and a lot from books by popular author Vince Flynn that I got inspired from. Sanak features ballet kind of action. With Vidyut, it becomes easy to shoot because he is such a brilliant martial artist in his own right. I think we have done a good job and we have tried to keep all the emotions, thrill and the intrigue possible in the movie along with great action. Hopefully, everyone will enjoy watching the movie as much as we enjoyed making it."

He adds, :"To make action sequences not look repetitive we have designed them in a way where Vidyut is seen fighting in a hospital set up, in the MRI room, physiotherapy room, aqua therapy room, using the magnetic pull of the machine to disarm the people. While we were designing action sequences for the film, I was very clear that it should be an old Hong Kong style of action, similar to Hollywood action superstars like John Woo and what people saw in the movie, ‘John Wick’."

'Sanak: Hope Under Seige' also stars Chandan Roy Sanyal, Neha Dhupia and debutante Rukmini Maitra. The film is presented by Zee Studios in association with Sunshine Pictures Pvt Ltd and will be streaming from October 15 on Disney+ Hotstar Multiplex.