"I have made many trips to Vaishnodevi, and I have seen people trekking up mountains on these pilgrimages, on these arduous trips to find God. What I have observed is that on their journeys to seek God, they usually experience God at some point along the way."
He further added, "The incident of the floods in 2013 also could not leave my mind, due to the stories that came out of it - devastating and remarkable in equal measure. I had to go ahead and develop a film set against that backdrop. I believe it is one of the most important stories I can tell for modern India."
Abhishek shares a special equation with newcomers, the filmmaker in the past has delivered successful newcomers like Farhan Akhtar, Sushant Singh Rajput and now is working with Sarah Ali Khan. To this Abhishek adds, "Newcomers have an infectious energy and unpredictability and give the audience a surprise. Having said that, it's not that I mind working with established actors provided they are as excited about portraying the characters that I would like to see brought to life.I am bringing to life. I can only chase my characters, not my actors. Sometimes it is not possible to do both."
The Kai Po Che director sets out to be an industry insider but refrains from being spotted with a particular camp, when quizzed him on this, Abhishek said, "Yes, it's true, when I was growing up my mother's brother Jitendra was a major Hindi movie star, and we do know a lot of people from the movie business, but as with everyone, the decision to be in films and my journey in film was my own, and has been a fairly challenging one too. Knowing people is not an automatic all-access pass to success. Very early on I saw a lot of failure, so any sense of entitlement I may have had about my place in the business was quickly knocked out of me."
He further adds, "I have gone through my share of struggles and have understood that it does not matter whether you start as an "Insider" or as an "Outsider". What matters is who you are and what you bring to the table in terms of your creativity and your work ethic."