Rajat Kapoor-Kalki Koechlin film's director suffers panic attack while filming

Mumbai: Making an independent film is not an easy task.

While filming ‘Mantra,’ the stress of trying to put together an independent film with a severely shoe-string budget finally got to the director, Nicholas Kharkongor, and he was suddenly struck with a panic attack just three days before the shoot.

A concerned Rajat Kapoor called director and tried to calm him down. A doctor was called in at once. Interestingly, the doctor said that film directors seemed to be particularly prone to panic attacks and prescribed some pills.

A source close to the film says, “The director found himself woozy all through the day, with frequent fits of hysterical laughter. Everyone realized there was no way he could be on medication and shoot.

"Adil Hussain and Kalki Koechlin, who were the actors for the first day of shoot, also thought that the medication might get in the way of the director being able to get the best out of them, especially because it was a very intimate scene, and the two actors had not had a chance to rehearse together at all. So, the medication was discontinued and for the entire duration of the shoot, the director was dealing with the effects of a panic attack.”