‘120 Bahadur’ Actor Ankit Siwach Says Banaras Keeps Drawing Him Back for Work During UP Visit

Actor Ankit Siwach will be joining the film as co-writer - producer of the feature film set in Varanasi. “I have strong connect with the city. In fact it’s Banaras that always chooses me and keeps bringing me back -- be it my first TV show or my very own film.”

His independent acting venture, Barf, is all set to hit various foreign circuits and has been accepted at Sundance and Berlin and now will be going to Goa festival too. “Being a Meerut boy, I own a lot to my region and so the my first independent film had to centred here. Tentatively titled Found and Lost, the project is all set to be shot in Banaras, this month. It’s not easy to make a film but we as a young team hum sab kaam khud kar rahe taaki acchi film ban sakein. Banaras is already on the world map in a big way and that is such proud feeling for all of us,” he says.

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As for the genre, though, he's going for an ambitious new territory completely, “we're going for an indie/ visual-theatrical thing, with a lot of VFX footage, going to a realistic sci-fi level – we're not staying in the indie- zone.”

The story is inspired by mythological beings and set in the time-less city. “Whatever mystique exists about Banaras that it will be the only city surviving after an apocalypse forms our premise. If I had to give a one-liner, it’s almost the last love story of this world, taking place where humanity endures when everything else is lost,” he says.

The project is his third time in the city, after his first film Chakravyuha and his released film Banaras Vanilla, which was unreleased as an indie. Siwach is lead by the show in the role of Male Lead and is also the writer and producer of the film with director Ishaan Jacob.

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While working out of several gigs, Siwach makes it clear that acting is still part and parcel of what he does in his career with Heartbeats 2. I don't want to cheapen my acting career even though I'm producing my film, I'll keep doing both, I'm putting everything in it, it's been a dream come true.

The film has a month shooting schedule in Banaras, and three months of post-production ahead, so is expected to hit the theatres early in the next year, as well as the festival circuit and OTT platforms.

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