Grew up in Kolkata, couldn't resist temptation of filming there: 'Special 26' director

New Delhi: Director Neeraj Pandey is a happy man, as he should be. His latest film 'Special Chabbis' has opened to rave reviews. Pandey, who grew up in Howrah, said he couldn't resist the temptation of setting a portion of his film in Kolkata since he knew the city so well.

"Lots of wishes are coming in, yes, great response to the film," Pandey told IBNLive over phone. "You don't estimate how a film will do when you make it. But when there's fresh content, there's always that chance that it will do well," he said.

Starring Anupam Kher, Akshay Kumar, Manoj Bajpayee, Jimmy Shergill, Kishore Kadam, Rajesh Sharma and Kajol Aggarwal in the lead roles, Special 26 is a heist film based on a true incident of a daring robbery at a jewellery shop in Mumbai.

Pandey, who grew up in Howrah, said he couldn\'t resist the temptation of setting a portion of his film in Kolkata.

Pandey grew up in Kolkata and said knew the area of Burra Bazaar well. Incidentally, a section of the film is set there.

The film was critically acclaimed by reviewers and Pandey said was running to packed houses. But was casting Akshay Kumar a gamble that paid off?

"But Akshay isn't like your average stars right from the beginning. He is very rooted and brought a lot of experience on the sets," Pandey said.

The success of Special 26 will boost young scriptwriters, said Pandey who wrote the script for the film. "This is going to be a trend," said the director who made the thriller 'A Wednesday'. Last year, script-oriented films such as Vicky Donor, Kahaani and Paan Singh Tomar not only scored well at the box office but were also critically acclaimed. So there is hope that the winning streak will continue in 2013.

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