'North-East films are still not on national level, but 'Axone' is mainstream': Sayani Gupta [Exclusive]

After the success of Season 2 of Four More Shots Please! Sayani Gupta is back with a bang in a film titled Axone that explores racial stereotyping and prejudice that is told through humour and food.

Axone (pronounced 'Akhuni' is named after the fermented soya bean staple typical to some parts of North-East India and known for its pungent smell) is a Hindi film, now streaming on Netflix. The film is based on a group of friends from North-East India wherein Sayani essays the role of one of those friends Upasana a Nepali from Manipur.

All the friends put their best foot forward to make their staple dish (Axone) to celebrate the wedding of a friend. The film touches upon a very important subject of racism and brutality in a subtle way. Directed by Nicholas Kharkongor, the film was screened at the Mumbai Film Festival (MAMI) in 2019, besides being feted at festivals outside the country.

In an exclusive chat with International Business Times India, Sayani Gupta talks about her reasons to do the film 'Axone', joys of shooting with the cast that was majorly from North-East India and more. 

Excerpts from the interview:

On why she did the film 'Axone'

Initially, I was scared to take it up as I was venturing into something which is very different from me. North-East films are still not on a national level. But Axone is a mainstream film. I found the script very authentic and very funny. Humour is a great way to change minds, and if one talks about serious matters through humour or satire, it tends to make a greater impression and mould more hearts. It's a very powerful tool, I feel.

On film with such an important subject skipping a theatrical release

The film was made in 2019, and it travelled film festivals before it streamed on Netflix. Talks were on to show the film in North-East India as well but because of protest on CAA, the idea was dropped. We were going to release the film in April 2020 in theatres, however, owing to COVID-19 the film directly took the digital route.

On the preparations she did to ace the dialect

In the film, I play Nepali who is from Manipur. It was tough to play and I had to work very hard to get into the groove and ace the dialect and the slang. Thankfully my friend who is a Nepali helped me a lot, we did a detailed work with the dialect and the slang, in fact, I added a lot of slang by myself, and then hairstylist Maria was my dialect coach on the sets.

On off-screen bond with the actors who are from North-East India

 Most of the cast and crew in Axone probably 98 per cent were from the North-East. The only people who were not from the region were Vinay Pathak, Dolly Ahluwalia and Rohan Joshi who anyway play north Indians in the film. For my part, I do know that they had considered other actors from the North-east. It just so happened that they liked my audition. We were all very cordial on the sets and have become friends.

Cooking the dish axone

 We were shooting at a North-east region in Humayunpur (Delhi), where most of the people are people from the North-east. We cooked the dish axone over a few days. The dish does smell and by the end of the day, I started smelling of axone. So axone is a flavour enhancer which is like a soybean. I also ate this dish a lot while I was shooting and explored the areas around.

Is Four More Shots Season 3 underway!

We were supposed to start shooting for the new season on 15 March then by 31st March, but then the lockdown kept extending so now we are unsure as to when we will start shooting.

 Watch the trailer of Axone below: