‘When I started, I had neither money nor patronage’-- Sartaj Singh Pannu

"When I started the project, I had neither money nor patronage nor office space. I just had enough money to open a current account in a local bank. It was a case of sheer passion driving the film," revealed Pannu, who’s all set to make his directorial debut with ‘Soch Lo.’

However, despite all the hardship in his way, he was determined and ultimately found the way to fulfill his dream to make this film, which is all set to be released on Aug. 27.

Interestingly, Pannu has not just produced and directed the film but has also scripted the story for it.

"It was overwhelming to play the protagonist of the movie along with being the director, producer and the writer. In fact, overwhelming is an understatement considering the number of tasks I had undertaken, especially for a debut movie," said Pannu.

Pannu decided to act after lead actor abandoned the project
Pannu also revealed that raising funds for his project was not the only hurdle he faced while making ‘Soch Lo.’

He had to make a quick decision of stepping into the protagonist’s shoes after the shortlisted leading actor suddenly abandoned the project.

"I had to cast myself after the shortlisted protagonist suddenly abandoned me. Since I did not want to risk my limited resources on unreliable actors, I decided to cast myself," revealed Pannu.

YouTube to rescue
Pannu went on to reveal that initially he and his brother were the main source of funding for the movie but when he ran out of funds, he tried an idea.

He posted the rushes of the film on YouTube and a Hyderabad-based company offered to help them with money.

"After the first schedule in Rajasthan, the shoot was just 40 percent complete and I found that it had already eaten up the entire budget. But I kept on since the film looked good on the rushes," the 28-year-old filmmaker said.