Inside Aakash Prabhakar’s 'How To Not Have Sex', set for world premiere at New York Indian Film Festival

If life is a stage one could say that Aakash Prabhakar has spent the last decade meticulously rearranging the furniture to see how the audience reacts when the room gets too smallFor the founder of the production house Here And Now the theatre has always been a laboratory for intimate emotionally driven storytelling But this month the laboratory moves to the New York Indian Film Festival NYIFF where Prabhakar is pulling off a doublebill that would make any indie filmmakerrsquos heart raceAt the centre of the storm is How To Not Have Sex the official Indian remake of Richard Linklaterrsquos 2001 cult classic Tape While the original featured Ethan Hawke and Uma Thurman the Indian avatar sees Prabhakar in the lead role of Vikram originally Hawkersquos Vince a man who reunites with two estranged high school friends only to peel back the scabs of a 10yearold traumaHow To Not Have Sex is about a man who reunites with two estranged high school friends only to peel back the scabs of a 10yearold traumaWith Richard Linklater himself on board as an executive producer Prabhakar and his team knew the stakes were high ldquoIrsquove been doing theatre for 10 years now and the stage has been my place to growrdquo Prabhakar tells us When the remake was deemed possible and Stephen Belber the original playwright reached out to him the timing felt electric ldquoThe Me Too movement had happened and nothing happened to most people who were called outCan a conversation be held that will help people better understand consent Help people understand what happens when you blur the linesrdquo Prabhakar wondered Itrsquos what led to making the film How To Not Have Sex arrives in 2026 almost a decade since the global Me Too reckoning and Prabhakar is under no illusions about how much has actually changed in the Indian subconsciousldquoA lot of people might seem woke but they arenrsquotrdquo he says bluntly ldquoThe vocabulary to be woke is very obvious but deep down itrsquos still on the surface level You meet incredibly intelligent people in huge MNCs but when you hear their opinions on the way women dress or how many partners they should be with itrsquos fairly regressiverdquoThis hypocrisy is partly what fuelled the adaptation To ensure the film didnrsquot fall into the trap of the male gaze Prabhakar turned to his wife and coproducer Anshulika Dubey to lead the writing ldquoWe tried having male writers write We couldnrsquot get the nuance rightrdquo he admits ldquoThe minute you see 20 minutes into a film about women written by men yoursquore like lsquoa dude wrote thisrsquo The female perspective needed a female gaze to be way more livedinrdquoThe writing was also key as the film is a chamber drama mdash a format that lives or dies on the strength of its dialogue and storytelling For Prabhakar the thrill lay in the boisterous authentic nature of his character Vikram a man whose perceptions of women are lightyears away from his ownBut how do you keep an audience hooked in a single room ldquoKickass writingrdquo Prabhakar laughs ldquoYou canrsquot sacrifice on that It requires beats in place conflict in place and morally grey characters not a hero being a hero and a villain being a villainrdquoAs he prepares for the World Premiere in New York Prabhakar is reflecting on the very thing his film dissects masculinity ldquoIt made me question a lot Everything we have been taught about male friendships isnrsquot right I still canrsquot imagine going to my childhood friend and saying lsquoI love yoursquo Itrsquos just insane By seeing the extremity of being masculine in the role I could embrace being more empathetic and kindrdquoAakashrsquos second entryWhile How To Not Have Sex dissects adulthood Aakash Prabhakarrsquos second festival entry Notice Me Now dives into the bruising world of adolescenceThe short film born from a workshop with writer Sarika explores bullying and the desperate thirst for visibility in the social media ageldquoTherersquos a certain sense of perfection thriving on social media which teenagers are very susceptible tordquo he says ldquoThese perfect filters are all fake They donrsquot existrdquoThrough the film he hopes to bridge the communication gap between parents and children ldquoI hope conversations about their heartbreaks are shared openly Most men in their teens canrsquot share anything with their fathers because of fear Itrsquos very hard to grow when your base emotion is coming out of fearrdquo