Operation Gold Fish is about Kashmiri Pandits' hardships; Rao Ramesh plays Amit Shah: Saikiran

Director Saikiran Adivi has spilled the beans on the story of Operation Gold Fish, which is about the problems faced by Kashmiri Pandits in the early 1990s and Rao Ramesh's role is written on the lines of Amit Shah.

Operation Gold Fish is scheduled for worldwide release on October 18. Its promos have raised a lot of curiosity about its story. Director Saikiran Adivi and Scriptwriter Abburi Ravi offered some hints at what viewers can expect in the story of the movie at its pre-release event held as a part of its promotion.

Addressing the event of Operation Gold Fish, Saikiran Adivi said, "We all know what happened to Kashmiri Pandits in the early 1990s. When I conceived this film, the first person I went to is Abburi Ravi. He did a lot of research on the issue. What happened to Pandits is really heart-rending and everyone must know their story.

Saikiran Adivi heaped praises upon the writer of Operation Gold Fish. He added, "Abburi Ravi infused confidence in me when I proposed that the film has to be funded by artists and technicians. He told me to believe in myself. He is the film's backbone, having helped me with script-writing, too. It took me three months to convince him to play Ghazi in the film. Rao Ramesh's role is on the lines of Amit Shah.

Talking about the producers, Saikiran Adivi said, "When I had Rs 3,500 in my pocket, Abburi Ravi gave me the strength to dare to do a Rs-6-crore movie. Keshav, a close friend of mine from Australia named Asish Reddy, Vizag's Damodara Yadav, my wife Pratibha, Padmanabha Reddy, and the film's artists loved the story and decided to invest in it."

The director thanked them for believing and supporting him to do Operation Gold Fish. Saikiran added, "I thank all of them. Without them, this project wouldn't have been there. Sai Kumar said that the story has a lot of span and encouraged me. The reaction to this film will be like saying Vande Mataram."

Addressing the event, Abburi Ravi also spoke about the story of Operation Gold Fish during his speech at its pre-release event. He said, "When Kashmir is mentioned, we remember Pakistan, LOC, terrorism, conflicts, etc. But the story of Kashmiri Pandits is heart-rending. When we met eight KP families in Hyderabad, it was hard to fight back tears when we listened to their plight.

Abburi Ravi added, "A father and an uncle had to help a girl swim across a river, reach the other side of the banks and let her escape in some vehicle so that she is alive. A rich family who owned 200 acres of farmland were driven away from their hearth and they had to sleep on roads just to be able to be alive."

Talking about his focus, Ravi said, "We haven't made the film to cash in on Pandits' hardships and genocide. We want to tell their stories to everyone. The villain's role has been designed in such a way that he is not frightened even if death is dancing in front of his eyes. We learned about one such character and wrote Ghazi Baba. It's now up to the audience to judge my acting. It's not easy to be an artist."