Through the eyes of a child

‘Pihu', the opening film under the Indian Panoroma section at IFFI, is the story of broken families seen through the eyes of the little protagonist, reveals the director Vinod Kapri

BHARATI PAWASKAR | NOVEMBER 23, 2017, 03:18 AM IST
Through the eyes of a child

 

Every child deserves parents but every parent does not deserve a child, feels filmmaker Vinod Kapri, who has taken the liberty to showcase this naked truth through his low budget film Pihu.
Pihu was the opening film under the Indian Panoroma section and is a tale about broken families which focuses on how larger-than-life egos between couples ultimately leads to deterioration of their relationships and the destruction of family life. Believing that even a small film will appeal to the audience if there is a catchy story in it rather than a big budget film with no story, Kapri, a senior journalist and a film maker enjoys working on films based on real life stories.
Pihu is his second film and is based on a true incident reported in a national daily in 2014 where a four-year-old girl was left alone at home by parents.
"When I thought of this film, I only remembered that I have to tell a story of the shaking family, the reasons for breaking and reasons for their fights," says Kapri, adding, "There was a simple way of depicting this - through a family. But that would not have been impressive. I thought, if I tell the story from the perspective of a child, it would have a greater impact on the minds of the audience."
Myra Vishwakarma, the five-year-old girl that acted in Pihu is in reality also called Pihu at home, shares Kapri. Holding the little five-year-old child actress who slept peacefully in his arms, Kapri spoke to The Goan, admitting that his journalist background was a blessing for him.
"As a journalist, you meet people and hear their stories. Most of my films are inspired by true stories and real life people and incidents. My next film is also based on real life incident. It too has a 10-and-a-half year old girl as an actress in it."
Admitting that it was difficult to get acting done from a two-year-old child, Kapri narrated how he met Pihu when she was just a-year-and-nine-months-old. Taking her parent's consent he proceeded with his story. Meeting the kid every day for an hour or two for the next six months he made friends with her. Then the entire crew moved in a big rented house, living together as a family. This was done to make the child feel at home while shooting.
"We started shooting when she was two. We created the situations and then shot. I placed three cameras, to capture all angles. There were no retakes. We couldn't make the child act again. I changed my screenplay as per her behaviour and moods. We used all her toys as part of the set, so that she's comfortable. Throughout the shooting her parents were with us. It really helped us. They supported us wholeheartedly and hence I call them the backbone of the film," admits Kapri whose debut film Miss Tanakpur Haazir Ho was a socio-legal satire that received extensive critical acclaim.
Before venturing into filmmaking, Kapri spent 23 years of his career as a journalist with media organisations like Zee News, Star News and India TV where he produced and directed various documentaries and shows including those on the 13 December Parliament attack, 26/11 Mumbai attack and anti-corruption crusader Anna Hazare.
Thankful to IFFI and NFDC for offering platform to showcase his small budget film Pihu, Kapri agrees that it's a huge platform for independent filmmakers like him who don't have big budget or support from studios. "It's a complete morale booster for young filmmakers," he states.
Seeing people crying when they came out of the theatre after screening, Kapri feels he has succeeded in spreading the message to people. "I could see couples and parents look into the eyes of each other and admitting that yes, we too fight but no more fights, let's melt our egos and take care of our child together - that's the take home message the film gives. And I didn't need too many characters in my film. Only one face - that of a child was more than enough. I am very hopeful for Pihu's India release," concludes Kapri.

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