Vinod Kapri brings his nose for news on silver screen
Senior television journalist Vinod Kapri is all set to unleash comedy in tragedy, a genre with a twist in Bollywood through, ‘Miss Tanakpur Haazir Ho’, which is based on a real life news incident.
Although ‘Miss Tanakpur’ is the heroine, her identity would be revealed only after the release. “It is a strategic decision not to reveal the true identity of ‘Miss Tanakpur’ before the film hits the screen. Let there be a guessing game around whether ‘Miss Tanakpur’ is a girl or if she is from a different world. ‘Miss Tanakpur’ exposes the entire system,” shares Kapri.
“It is a true story that inspired me to make a film,” reveals Kapri about the ‘expose factor’ that caught his attention when he happened to read a news piece on the website of ‘BBC Hindi’. “This news piece further strengthened my observation that when it comes to representing India, foreign media time and again projects our country as something really different from the rest of the world with its own complications and peculiarities. They really like to talk about it,” he shares and adds, “I couldn’t close my eyes to the facts that were mentioned about what happens in Indian police stations, posts, Government hospitals etc. Even more surprising is the fact that system too gives its stamp.”
Kapri who has shot over 100 documentaries and when ‘Miss Tanakpur Hazir Ho’ took shape, fortunately for him, some of the best talent in the industry was more than willing to step into his debut directorial affair. “Om Puri, Annu Kapoor, Ravi Kishan, Sanjay Mishra — I thought that no one other than these four could play the characters better. I could see my characters in them during the writing stage itself. Trust me, when these four men will come on screen, it will not seem like we are seeing their real self in there; what we would see is true characters,” adds the director about his choice of characters.
It would also be a litmus test for him to try his hand on a full-fledged feature film. “For last 20-22 years, I have been working on bringing news to the audience. Fortunately though, during last 5-6 years, cinema has changed and it has a commercial viability. Audience is giving such films good reception and acceptance as well. I thought this was the right time to take the plunge and hence, ‘Miss Tanakpur Haazir Ho’ was born,” he shares.
Starring also Hrishita Bhatt and Rahul Bagga, the film goes on floors towards the end of this month. It would be shot in 40 days at Hapur, near New Delhi.
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