Vasan Bala’s long-awaited film, Mard Ko Dard Nahi Hota, which opened the 2018 MAMI Mumbai Film Festival, will be released in theatres on March 21. The action-comedy is produced by Ronnie Screwvala and stars debutant Abhimanyu Dassani. Radhika Madan, last seen in Vishal Bhardwaj’s Pataakha, plays the female lead in the film.

Vasan, who made his feature film debut with the unreleased Peddlers (2013), says, “After 14 years of trying to make movies, finally there's a release. This is exactly what we toil so hard for, to see our films on the big screen. After six years of pitching this film to various people, I finally met Ronnie, who not only understood the concept, but also decided to make it. He is someone who is looking at ideas, content and is ready to take calculated risks.” 

Mard Ko Dard Nahi Hota was screened at the 43rd Toronto International Film Festival, where it won the People’s Choice Midnight Madness Award. For his performance, lead actor Abhimanyu Dassani won the Best New Young Actor at the 2018 Macau International Film Festival & Awards. Speaking about the film, Abhimanyu says, “It is heavily influenced by the B-grade action movies of the world. My character, Surya, has grown up on those movies and wants to adapt their philosophy into real life. I watched a lot of Kung Fu movies and also Kung Fu Panda (the animated film franchise) to get into his head. We all have a six-year-old inside us who still thinks he is a superhero. Surya is a manifestation of that guy.”