Ekaki: How Ashish Chanchlani made a horror-sci-fi series on just 10% of a Bollywood film’s budget and pulled nearly 150 million views on YouTube

That realisation pushed him to experiment with storytelling.

“I thought I have earned enough money in my life. Now let’s try doing something different. Let’s try telling a story.”

From sketch comedy to a full-fledged screenplay

Interestingly, Ekaki didn’t begin as the ambitious sci-fi comedy series it eventually became. “My first concept was what if aliens come to India. It started as a sketch comedy,” Ashish Chanchlani revealed. But the idea soon expanded into something bigger. “Then I thought, what if we call the police and tell them we have an alien attack on our planet? That’s how it all started. Eventually, we had a screenplay.”

He was also clear about the tone of the show from the beginning.

“I was very clear that my screenplay would have one-third seriousness and two-thirds comedy. I was done with the script in 2024 and then we shot it for over a year — a bit in 2024 and the entire 2025.”

‘I always wanted to be an actor-director’

For Ashish Chanchlani, directing Ekaki was also about fulfilling a long-held creative ambition. “I have always wanted to become an actor-director,” he said.

According to him, content creators already have directing instincts, even if they don’t realise it.

“YouTube sketches always need direction. I might not be very skilled with angles, but storytelling is something I have always loved. Everybody who does content creation is by default a director. So by making Ekaki, I put out all my actor-director keeda.”

The ‘Adipurush’ reference in the show

The series also includes a reference to the trolling around the 2023 film Adipurush starring Prabhas. Ashish said the moment was included because he noticed even fans joking about the film.

“I respect Prabhas a lot. But I noticed his own fans trolling Adipurush. So I added that in the screenplay. It was written in the same year as the film’s release. Earlier I was scared there would be backlash, but surprisingly I didn’t receive any,” he explained.

A passion project with an ‘independent film’ budget

Despite its scale, Ashish Chanchlani says Ekaki was made on a surprisingly modest budget.

Without revealing the actual budget, Ashish said, “Let me give you an example. My initial budget was around Rs 30. But I spent that in the first schedule itself.” Soon, the numbers kept increasing. “Then it became Rs 50, and eventually it went to Rs 80. But even then, our budget is just 10 percent of a big Bollywood film.”

He believes the show was made possible purely because of passion.

“It’s almost like an independent film. In that modest budget, we have done the job of a Rs 300–400 crore film. I told my team clearly that this is not a money-making process, but a passion project. I told them, you will be proud of this later.”

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Extreme cost-cutting on set

The team also adopted strict cost-cutting measures during the shoot of Ekaki.

“Wherever there was no need, we did cost cutting. We didn’t keep four vanity vans — just one that was shared by everyone,” he said, adding, “Sometimes even the extras used the same van.”

Instead of luxury, the team focused on basic comfort.

“We focused on good food, but didn’t randomly book luxury cars or expensive makeup artists. We had one makeup person for nine of us.”

85 days of shooting and action-heavy episodes

The shoot itself lasted 85 days, with the majority spent on action scenes. “Out of 85 days, about 60 days went into shooting the action sequence, which is mostly the final episode. The chatting and comic portions took about 25 days. Rain caused us a lot of problems during the shoot.”

When the VFX files got corrupted

One of the biggest setbacks came during post-production. “The VFX that was supposed to be used for the final episode got corrupted,” Ashish Chanchlani revealed. The team had to redo months of work. “We had worked on it for six months and it went in vain. We had to render it again, clean it, polish it, and enhance the quality.”

He credits his VFX team for saving the project. “My VFX team worked day and night on it.”

Life after latent controversy

Ashish also admitted that the current climate has made him more cautious about the topics he chooses. “I think I have become very careful about what I put in my script. I don’t want to get into politics or religion or anything that can cause controversy.”

He even scrapped an idea he once wanted to make. “I had a very cute story on Lord Krishna and Lord Ganapati. I wanted to make something animated on them. But now I am scared.”

According to him, even good intentions can sometimes be misunderstood.

“I feel that even if my intention is good, I might end up making some mistake that will offend people.”

What’s next for Ashish Chanchlani?

Despite the challenges, Ashish Chanchlani says he’s just getting started with long-form storytelling. “I’m going to do a lot of stuff. I have something interesting lined up and I’ll announce it very soon. I might direct a pure horror film — no science fiction, no comedy. Just horror. I’m writing it myself. I might collaborate with a big production house. I have pitched it to them. Let’s see where it goes.”