Girish Kohli’s debut feature film, Crazxy, delivers a high-stakes, real-time thriller that skillfully unravels the complexities of morality, redemption and human flaws. As Dr. Abhimanyu Sood, Sohum Shah anchors the film with his commanding lead performance, ensuring that the narrative challenges viewers to confront their moral compass.

Crazxy releases theatrically on February 28, 2025 and can be streamed on Amazon Prime Video. In this interview, Kohli opens up about his creative approach to crafting suspense, collaborating with colleagues and the challenges of creating a narrative that unfolds entirely through phone calls. 

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Dipankar Sarkar: You worked in the Hindi film industry as a writer before becoming a director. How did that background help you shape a film like Crazxy, where so much relies on dialogue, subtext and structure?

Girish Kohli: The biggest learning from working as a professional writer is understanding the impact of script length and page count on budgets. This understanding helped me to keep Crazxy taut and compact while writing. 

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DS: Crazxy opens with a single take that moves from a book to the protagonist carrying a bag full of cash. Were you trying to establish that the story blends serious themes with a pulpy style?

GK: This was my way of summarizing the entire movie in one shot. I feel that if I can do that, only then do I understand my own story. At the same time, I feel it is my responsibility to my audience to establish the world and themes in the opening scene so that they know what they are in for. It’s my way of comforting my audience. Also, I don’t enjoy movies that open with generic location shots that establish time or place. I feel the audience deserves better — which is why I give a lot of thought to my opening shots.

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DS: Most of Crazxy’s dramatic moments unfold through phone calls. What steps did you take to ensure the screenplay made these conversations feel natural while still revealing the protagonist’s backstory and advancing the plot?

GK: I tried to keep exposition minimum and expression maximum. I made sure each character on the other side of the phone has their own personality. Like, the caller “White Coat” is hyper and says “baat khatam” (end of discussion) a few times. The girlfriend is romantic and self-assured. The ex-wife is angry and sarcastic. The kidnapper is inconsistently polite and threatening because he is dealing with a duality. Strong characterization made it easy to reveal the back story yet take the plot ahead simultaneously.

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DS: Crazxy begins as a thriller but gradually turns into a morality tale. Was this shift in tone planned from the start, or did it evolve naturally as the story developed?

GK: It was intentional. The medical book in the opening shot refers to an “ethical dilemma.” The Buddha on the dashboard hints at the internal journey Abhimanyu, the protagonist, is about to undertake. The film’s grey color palette — a grey character in a grey suit, inside a grey car on grey roads — reflects his moral ambiguity. I tried my best to ease the audience into this tonal shift.

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DS: The scene where Abhimanyu changes a flat tire while guiding a surgery over the phone is intense and emotionally charged. What kind of research went into making this sequence feel authentic?

GK: For me, this was a twisted scene. Abhimanyu believes he’s supervising a surgery while performing a “pseudo-surgery” on his car, unaware that the greater surgery is being performed on him. This scene brought all those ideas together. I’ve always been fascinated by the technicalities of changing a flat tire. If you skip a step or do things out of order, you often have to start over. The same applies to a medical procedure, which can be a matter of life and death. I chose intestinal surgery because that particular organ aligned with the “chakravyuh” (maze) motif of the film.

A tremendous amount of research went into every stage. The scene was developed in collaboration with Dr. Catterjee, a leading general surgeon at Bombay Hospital. He was generous with his time. I visited his clinic and home several times to get the details right, and he even contributed a lot of dialogue. I had two rehearsal surgeries for a year, each with a different surgeon present. A third surgeon was present during the actual shoot. Everyone performing the surgery — including “Junior” — is a real medical professional. Not a single person in the surgery scene is an actor.

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DS: You used both retro and popular Bollywood tracks, along with original songs, within Crazxy’s narrative. What guided your music choices, and how did they help shape the film’s emotional and tonal landscape?

GK: The music choices were rooted in the script. For instance, the kidnapper’s ringtone, Amitabh Bachchan’s dialogue from Sarkar (2005), was always part of the screenplay. I felt it was the perfect way to capture the kidnapper’s perspective. Similarly, the song “Kalu Mama” was scripted from the beginning because it reflected Abhimanyu’s inner conflict while also being entertaining.

The Kishore Kumar track “Abhimanyu” was added only during the final stages of editing, when we all felt it resonated well with the character. However, what didn’t quite get its due was Gulzar’s evocative poetry and Vishal Bhardwaj’s soulful compositions. Tracks like “Pul,” “Chann Ve” and “O Papa” gave the film a strong emotional undercurrent. I was fortunate to collaborate with them, and their music brought much-needed emotional depth to an otherwise fast-paced thriller.

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DS: Much of Crazxy takes place inside a luxury car. How did you and your cinematographer develop the visual language to keep the setting cinematically engaging?

GK: We chose the Sony Venice Rialto camera, which allows the separation of the sensor (“brain”) from the main body, making it easier to shoot within the tight confines of a car. Most of the film was shot using anamorphic lenses to achieve a wider, more cinematic feel and to offset the inherent claustrophobia of the setting. The color palette was dominated by greys and yellows, representing Abhimanyu and the sun — which I always saw as his rival. The sunset was his deadline, and he was constantly racing against it.

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DS: Editing plays a key role in balancing tension, emotion and urgency. How did you and your editors work together to shape this delicate rhythm?

GK: Here’s how we worked: I first edited the film myself and created a vision cut, so that everyone could understand how the story needed to be told. The editor absorbed that vision, made her version, and then we worked on it together. We screened the film to our circle of trust repeatedly, gathered feedback, and kept refining the edit. 

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DS: Sohum Shah delivers a physically and emotionally demanding performance while backing the film as its producer. How did his dual role influence the creative process and the intensity he brought to the character?

GK: Sohum is a passionate person, and that passion drives him no matter what role he takes on. Both as a producer and as an actor, he fully surrendered to my vision. There’s no other way a film like Crazxy could have been made. As a producer, he stood by me during moments of crisis and guided me like an elder brother. He understood the scale and intensity of the film and backed it financially. As an actor, he was a strong creative collaborator and a good listener.

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DS: What kinds of stories are you looking to explore next as a filmmaker?

GK: I’ve come to realize that you don’t choose the next film you make. The film chooses you. My upcoming project is an emotionally driven revenge thriller, featuring a promising young actress and a legendary producer. In general, I’m drawn to high-concept, emotionally rich stories. Parent-child themes inspire me deeply. I prefer to write and create my own stories rather than look for them elsewhere. I sincerely hope to make sci-fi and madcap comedies one day, as these genres offer a unique way to explore humanity and society.

Dipankar Sarkar (@Dipankar_Tezpur) is a graduate in film editing from the Film and Television Institute of India and currently based in Mumbai. As a freelancer, he frequently contributes to various Indian publications on cinema-related topics.

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