Agra, directed by Kanu Behl, is a 2023 psychological drama film which finally saw the light of the day in Indian cinemas on November 14, 2025. Starring Mohit Agarwal and Priyanka Bose, the critically acclaimed movie garnered immense praise and recognition worldwide, including a five-minute standing ovation at the Cannes Film Festival. Despite the acclaim, the film still faced multiple challenges upon its release in India.
In a recent chat with The Movie Mail, the acclaimed filmmaker, who is also known for films like Titli and Despatch, spoke about the screen disparity that Agra faced in Indian theatres and how this issue can be solved for all independent films. Behl also shared his unique process of filming Agra and mentioned what makes it an important film. The director also talked about his reasons for not subscribing to the idea of having intimacy coordinators on the set of a film, his upcoming projects and more.
Edited excerpts:
Q. Agra depicts such sensitive themes. What kind of research or real-life observations shaped the film’s psychological authenticity?
A. There were many stages, and it took me a while. First of all, I had to figure out how not to be afraid to do a film like this, and that took me some time. When I got over my own fear, I realised that I was not quite Guru (a pivotal character in Agra, played by Mohit Agarwal) myself and did not know him well enough.
So, the next stage was to try to do a lot of emotional research to try and get as close as possible to his mental state. Because even though I had felt a certain sexual repression or an inability to express myself, I was still a privileged person. Back then, I used to live in Delhi, in a 3BHK, with at least a room of my own. But the class and the boys that I wanted to talk about were the ones who were living with 4-5 family members in one room. So I realised that I don’t quite understand that mental space, and I had to figure out ways to recreate that emotional space for myself.
For example, I started going to some sex chat rooms myself. Sometimes, I used to pose as a girl or a boy or even myself, just to understand that feeling and understand what was going on in my gut, heart and head. Once I started doing all these exercises, I realised the rhythm of this film, and Guru’s mental state too. The actual writing for Agra started after that.
Then the next struggle was to find the context for this film and give people a proper reason to watch it. So, I started thinking about a new lens on sexuality that I can bring, which is when the whole idea of living spaces came in. Once I discovered that, I knew that there was an interesting film here, which looks at sexuality through a unique lens.
Q. What, in your view, are the factors responsible for the theatre owners when choosing to run a globally acclaimed film like Agra versus a star-packed commercial movie?
A. They go for money, they go for commerce, and don’t care about anything else. First of all, they are all out of touch and don’t know the reality. Agra has been trending and raging, and people have been talking about it on social media for so long, but they will not pay any attention to that because they’re not in touch with the ground, with what people actually want. All they are doing is merely rehashing the same Bollywood blockbusters with the same big stars who are over the hill now, and whose films are not working anymore. They are fooling people and asking them to walk in and watch substandard stuff, which doesn’t respect the audience and where not even the bare minimum effort is made. Agra took around nine years to make, while the films that they promote and put on 5000 screens don’t even work for nine days on their scripts.
Q. So, what is the solution for this issue?
A. The solution has to be some sort of structural support. We have to figure out a system that, if a film qualifies for a certain criterion, for a certain benchmark, then it needs to have a minimum running time and space. Our whole community has been really jolted by the treatment that has been meted out to Agra. So, there are a bunch of independent filmmakers who are now coming together. We have already started talking about forming a body and fighting for our rights, and getting those rights regulated.
Q. What kind of brief was given to the pivotal actors in Agra?
A. I don’t give briefs to my actors. Generally, we have a three-month workshop with all the actors present on all days. We work together and try to find the rhythms of the characters and how their body reacts. Acting is not about giving or taking briefs, reading scripts and learning dialogues. It’s about knowing and finding the spirit of the character you’re playing, and it takes time.
So, we do a lengthy workshop where in the first month, we call actors, and we clean them up of all other characters that they’ve done. The second month is called the neutral month, where the actor learns to stay without any identity. In the final month, we don’t read the scenes or script, but only try to live the life of the character and their spirit and how to find the soul that inhabits them. The purpose of making a film cannot be to only shoot the scenes and to learn the dialogues, and just to create a movie. It has to be something larger than that, that explores something bigger.
Q. Vibha Chibber and Rahul Roy surprised me the most in the film. How did they land the film, and what were their reactions when they learnt about this universe and the characters they were supposed to portray?
A. We were testing many people for the part. So, both Vibha ma’am and Rahul sir walked in through that route only. They were quite chilled out and excited at the same time. It took them some time to understand the style I work with because it is a little different. Usually, actors are not asked to do the strange and weird things the way they end up doing in my film or even during the workshop. For example, sometimes I ask an actor to sit under a tree for a whole day and do nothing. This is just one example, because there are a lot of other things that happen as well. So sometimes it takes the actors a bit of time to adjust, but once they get used to the process and once they see the merit of the process, they get comfortable.
Q. What was the most challenging aspect of this film’s shoot? Was there any scene in particular that was difficult to execute?
A. All the scenes were difficult to shoot. There was no easy scene in this film. For example, during the house construction montage, we had to be really careful because we were a small-budget film. So, we had to cleverly shoot that scene in five different locations and then cleverly combine everything to make it look like the same house, which is being broken and then getting reconstructed again. So, that was a really challenging sequence for a really small independent film like Agra. Meanwhile, the long, intimate scene towards the end of the film, just before the climax, was also quite challenging to shoot, because the subject matter is so fragile. There are so many ways in which you can cross the line, and it can stop being poignant and start to feel titillatory. So we had to be really careful not to tread over the line.
Q. Why is it important for you to explore sexuality with such realism on screen, especially since we’ve seen such raw representations across most of your projects?
A. The job of a filmmaker is to show as much honesty and truth as you can with the character. In life, when you are in an intimate position or a spot with someone, that is the most revelatory and truthful moment in your life. At that time, two people are not only physically and bodily naked, but also emotionally naked and nothing is hidden in that moment. You are either one with another person, and you feel that connection, or you don’t. Now, if there are these moments that are so primed for me to be able to tell my audience the most about my character through those moments, why should I not do it unless I’m doing it in a titillatory manner?
If I’m solely trying to take advantage of the sexual scenes and doing them for the sexuality or to titillate, then it’s not right. But if I’m really doing it in the service of telling a broader story and introducing those very golden moments which reveal the most truth, then why should I not do it? We are the land of the KamaSutra. We live in 2025, and it’s about time we move forward from here and forget the stupid system of showcasing flowers on the screen to explain an intimate scene, and the other versions of that, that we have in cinema today. The people who should really be asked this question are the guys who do item numbers with belly buttons and with cameras looking down cleavages. Why are they not asked these questions? The younger audience should stand up and speak about what is relevant and what is not.
Q. In an interview with us, Priyanka Bose mentioned the importance of an intimacy coordinator as well as how sometimes the actors need to take over the process of filming the intimate scenes for a better outcome. What do you have to say on that?
A. If there is an intimacy coordinator on set, then I’m not needed. An intimacy coordinator is needed if I’m not doing my job. A director’s job is to gain the trust of the actors and help them arrive at the truth of the scene. Why would I want one extra person, an added layer between the actors and me? I don’t subscribe to this idea of intimacy coordinators. I feel it has nothing to add. Surely, an action director is important for action scenes from a safety point of view. I would never do an action sequence without them. But never a choreographer, because as a director, I would like to choreograph the action myself.
I have a huge problem with this because I feel like if a person has to negotiate between the director and the actors or even between two actors to feel comfortable, then the director has not done the job to gain the trust of both the actors and make both of them comfortable enough with each other so that they don’t have a problem. So, just because I’m lazy, I will not get an intimacy coordinator on my shoot. All our actors and the crew were clear that nothing in this film would be done for titillation. It is explicit, yes, but there is a need to be explicit thematically.
Q. Could you share a bit about your upcoming projects and what audiences can look forward to next from you?
A. There are a few things, but in early development. The immediate next thing that I’m up to is a French project. It’s called Loving Année, which will be mixed in English and French. The shoot will take place in France. There are some Indian projects as well in the pipeline, but the kind of work that I would like to do in India with the system that we have is always difficult and takes time.
