Writer and director Arvind Pandey’s love for his hometown, Lucknow, continues. He recently wrapped the shoot of his film Teetar with actor Santosh Shukla in the state capital and is now gearing up for its release, along with Love Lottery, which also has a strong city connection.
“Aap jis mitti se bandhe hote ho, woh aapke andar se kabhi jaata nahin. It feels great when people in Mumbai identify me as a Lucknowite without me telling them. So, my stories and locations always have a city element attached to them, along with mountains. My debut film, Ishq Pashmina, was also shot in the Himalayas and Lucknow,” says Arvind, who was born in Ayodhya but has lived in the state capital.
On wrapping up the shoot in the city, he says, “We shot Teetar with Santosh, Khushi Singh, Anil Rastogi, Middat Khan, and others. The film was shot all over the city and its outskirts and has roohaniyat and the soul of Lucknow. We started it as a short film, but it became a full-length film. We now plan to shoot a small portion again.”
He is next gearing up for his film Love Lottery. “We shot the film in Dehradun and Haridwar, but we have shown Lucknow as our protagonist Akshay Oberoi’s hometown.”
The film’s subject revolves around male rights and is inspired by true events. “In today’s context, it’s a very important film. We talk a lot about females’ rights and which we surely should but we rarely talk about rights of men,” he says and adds, “If we look back there are rare examples of films on the subject and the reality is that so many cases are coming out where women have misused the loopholes laws and wrongly implicated men. In an interesting way we have presented it in our film.”
The filmmaker’s next film, too, on family relations and values, is also set in Uttar Pradesh. “I have written a script on family values and how relationships are falling apart. It’s now more about me and you rather than us. Have weaved the story in a feature film which can entertain and give a message as well as you can’t be preachy too!”
For the film he is ready to explore beyond UP as well. “Of course, UP will be my first choice but we are also exploring locations in Madhya Pradesh as well, with a portion in the mountains,” says Pandey and adds, “UP earlier outperformed by subsidy and facilities but locations are becoming costly now and it needs to strengthen the single window clearance as Uttarakhand, Bihar and MP are also becoming good shooting destinations.”
