Sandeep brings love story of widow in his directorial debut ‘Safed’

MUMBAI: Makers of ‘Safed’ starring Abhay Verma and Meera Chopra on Thursday unveiled the teaser of the film on social media. Taking to Instagram, director Sandeep Singh treated fans with the teaser video and captioned it, “Shining jewels are the light of the world's people... Banaras's black silver is famous. Here presenting before you the Teaser of our Film Safed - An unimaginable Love Story between a transgender and a widow.”

‘Safed’, starring Abhay Verma (as Chaandi) and Meera Chopra (as Kaali), is a love story between a transgender and a widow. Victims of social oppression, the duo find solace and redemption in each other, melting away their lonely existence. The film marks the debut of Sandeep Singh as a director, who has won critical acclaim for films like ‘RamLeela’, ‘Rowdy Rathore’, ‘Mary Kom’, ‘Aligarh’, ‘Sarbjit’, ‘Bhoomi’, ‘Jhund’, and now producing ‘Swatantryaveer Savarkar’, ‘Saharasri,’ ‘Main Atal Hoon’ to name few.

Exploring unconventional genres and choosing to make films on out-of-the-box themes has been his forte. The First look of the film was unveiled by music maestro AR Rahman in Cannes 2022.

Director Sandeep Singh said in a statement, "My aim, through this film, is to give voice to the people who come from diverse background of society, struggling for space amongst the conformist audience.

The society has always looked down upon them. But at the end of the day aren't we all humans? I hope to make significant impact on their rights to live a life just like you and me and also support their right to love. Love is the only universal emotion that makes you feel whole and not different and inadequate. Love overlooks all shortcomings making you feel complete. There's nothing shameful as it makes us accept ourself and our world."

Presenter Anand Pandit said, "It's a matter of pride for me to present Safed as the subject of the film is totally off the beaten track. The way Sandeep Singh has captured the essence and purity of love amongst two absolutely contradictory genders, against the rustic background of Banaras, is interesting. The film moves you to the core." Abhay Verma said, "Keeping in mind the commercials and web series that I have done as a model and actor with a chocolate boy image, I was scared to do this role.

Playing a transgender Chaandi in my very first film, I was hesitant. It was Sandeep sir's confidence that enabled me to essay this character so convincingly. With the passionate depth with which it has been imagined and created, I experienced emotional upheavals. It took me months to get over my character even after the shooting was over."

Meera Chopra shared her experience, "When I read the script given by Sandeep, I was overwhelmed. But being Sandeep's first film as a director, I was unsure only till we began shooting. After the first day of our shoot, I knew I was in safe hands. He brought out a widow's plight successfully. I feel absolutely honoured being chosen for this role."

‘Safed’ also has Barkha Bisht, Jameel Khan and Chhaya Kadam in pivotal roles. ‘Safed’, a 70 minutes film, also has an album of seven romantic and heart-touching tracks, rendered by some of the renowned names like Sonu Nigam, Rekha Bhardwaj, Shilpa Rao, Shail Hada, Shashi Suman, Jazim Sharma and Suvarna Tiwari.

Presented by Anand Pandit and Legend Studios, Safed's Direction, Story, Screenplay is by Sandeep Singh. Produced by Sandeep Singh and Co-Produced by Vishal Gurnani, Juhi Parekh Mehta and Zafar Mehdi, Associate Producer Ishaan Dutta, Dialogue Rishi Virmani and Sandeep Singh, ‘Safed’ will be released soon.