Anil Kapoor, Harsh Varrdhan Kapoor, Fatima Sana Shaikh, Satish Kaushik and director Raj Singh Chaudhary spill the beans on Thar

The trailer of Anil Kapoor and Harsh Varrdhan Kapoor’s upcoming film Thar was unveiled on April 18. It will stream on Netflix on May 6. The Free Press Journal was present at the mega launch event.

It is directed by Raj Singh Chaudhary. An elated Raj shares, “I have followed western genre films since childhood. Since I grew up in Rajasthan, I used to read a lot of western novels and western graphic novels. I used to visualise cowboys and horses. However, Thar is not germinated from my own life experiences, but I wanted to tell and narrate this kind of a story in a unique way. Once people watch the film, they will realise why I wanted to tell a story in this way. I am immensely grateful that Harsh believed in my vision and let me tell a story in a way no one has. Anil sir believing in my vision is a big thing.”

When we asked Anil about his reason to choose this film, he reveals, “The film has a whole lot of young talent, and I feel there’s so much to learn from them. The whole experience is very educative, and I love taking risks. Most of the times, the risks have paid off. I wish with Thar; the risk will pay off too in a bigger way.”

Elaborating further, Anil adds, “I was in Austria, and my son Harsh pitched me this script. I read it one go because I just loved it. Then he introduced me to our young and handsome director Raj, and I liked him as a person. For me, it is very important to work with good and hardworking people. My first thing is to make my director happy and then my producers happy since they put so much money on us. I can vouch that people who worked on the sets of Thar had the best time ever. Raj has further introduced to me the wonderful team of DOP, editor and the art director.”

Fatima Sana Shaikh is the film’s lead actress. “I have been fortunate enough to get such different and varied roles so far, be it Dangal or Thugs of Hindostan, and it’s the same with Thar. It is very different from what I have done in the past. I signed the film because our director Raj is so handsome and I didn’t want to lose an opportunity to work with AK (Anil Kapoor). I have been a fan of his work since childhood. You rarely get to share screen space with whom you admire,” Fatima shares.

Harsh, who has been experimenting with his roles with films like Bhavesh Joshi Superhero, AK vs AK or Ray, will be seen headlining Thar. “The thing which attracted me to do the film is its writing. It is different from what we have been watching so far. I always try to do newer things. The whole idea is to break away with the conventions of filmmaking and storytelling,” Harsh explains.

Elaborating further, he avers, “When I started to interact with Raj in 2018, I always had ‘why?’ in my discussions. As an actor, it was my responsibility to not compromise Raj’s vision since the film is a director’s medium.”

Satish Kaushik is reuniting with his Mr. India co-star Anil in Thar. “We shot the film in the winters, and we had a lovely stay and food. After a long time, Anil and I have collaborated on a project. When he did his first film Woh 7 Din, I played a two dialogue scene where I played a florist. I needed a shirt for that role, and he got me a shirt worn by Rishi Kapoor in Phool Khile Hain Gulshan Gulshan. He saw my play at Prithvi Theatre and suggested my name to Boney Kapoor, and also requested him to pay me Rs 501 as my acting fee. I realised how relationships grow,” he signs off.