‘Raakh’ director Prosit Roy: Initially, in my head, I was planning to give Ali Fazal a look like Vinod Khanna

Mumbai, June 22, 2026
Director Prosit Roy, who is receiving a lot of positive response to the recently released streaming series ‘Raakh’, had planned to present Ali Fazal’s character of a cop in a very flamboyant way. The director wanted to give Ali the look of Vinod Khanna of the 1970s.

However, as the pre-production picked up momentum, he was advised by the show’s creative team to take a different route for the lead character.

The director spoke with IANS after the show’s release along with Ali Fazal, Sonali Bendre, Aamir Bhashir, Ramandeep Yadav, Anusha Nandkumar and Sandeep Sanket.

Talking about the research and pre-production, the director said, “So, we did a lot of research, there was one level of research which happened when Anusha and Sandeep were writing, so that research was also there and then when I joined in, there was one more level of research which happened because that was more detailed into the casting of the period, the production design, all the buses, cars, everything”.

He told IANS, “We also met policemen from that era, they told us how the hair should be, and how the moustache should be. So, initially, in my head, I was planning to give Ali a look like Vinod Khanna and then, I was told that it doesn’t happen like that because we are all influenced by the 70s films but those are not the right references.

So, eventually, we dig deeper, I had a very good team of my assistants, they all dig deeper into it and we managed to pull out all the references and then after that, one by one, we created this period together with every department”.

“A lot of it is also how it was shot because the structure of the shooting was also quite very different because at that time, we used to get only one type of light. So, the tube lights were just being introduced.

So, if you see, there are tube lights in the police station itself but in the rest of the houses, all the tungsten lights are there. So, little by little, you know, we built the world”, he added.

‘Raakh’ is available to stream on Prime Video.(Agency)