I’ve always found the goings-on [in the play] to be extremely cinematic,” Bugs Bhargava Krishna, thespian, adman and one half of the writer-director duo behind Pune Highway, that releases in theatres on May 16, tells us. Sitting across from him on this warm May morning in their artfully arranged Bandra office is his long-time friend, fellow adman and co-writer and -director Rahul DaCunha who, more than two decades ago, also wrote the original play the film is based on. 

Although the play is boxed in by the constraints of the stage into one motel room, its cinematic potential was undeniable to Krishna, who also essayed one of the key characters in the original stage version. “Most of the play is actually a flashback where people are telling you what happened. So, all of that is visual material conveyed in dialogue, which you can shoot. I was fascinated by how Rahul had structured this play.”