Science teacher turned film director Anand Kumar Tiwari, who is debuting with his feature film Laagi Chhoote Na, feels this is a perfect time for independent films to shine and reach a larger audience.
Hailing from Sultanpur, Anand did his schooling and college in Lucknow, where he shot his film, besides shooting in Sonbhadra and Jaipur.
On his visit to the state capital, on the way to his hometown, he says, “I believe the audience today wants to watch content that is related to their culture. In the last few years, we have noticed that the story, filmmaking and music is the star! It does not matter if the film has a big star or not – like it was a few years back. Of course, it's always an advantage to have big names that can attract a large audience and give a better prospect of recovery. But, if your content is good it finds an audience provided luck is also in your hand.”
He conceptualised the story and started filming in 2023 but feels now is the right time for such projects to work.
{{/usCountry}}He conceptualised the story and started filming in 2023 but feels now is the right time for such projects to work.
{{/usCountry}}"Last year we had a small Gujarati film, Laalo – Krishna Sada Sahaayate, which was made in ₹50 lakh and it did over ₹100 crores. The success of the humble-budget Hanuman Ansh is known to all, so small-budget films do work provided that content and music are good and it has been made with full honesty," he says, agreeing to the fact that in both films the religious factor worked.
"We too have touched the issue of honour killing and an inter-faith love affair, and both are big talking points in our society. It's a triangular love story between Ashutosh Kumar, Deepra Mishra and Shalu Singh," he says.
On the factor he is banking on, he says, "We have worked a lot on music and have given over six months to that as I know that for a film to work, songs have to be good. Second, we have made a family film which people can watch together without any hesitation. Also, today for a film to work it needs to be relevant, so this is a love triangle, but the drama is based on a Hindu-Muslim love story."
On his journey from a teacher to filmmaker, he says, "After schooling in the state capital, I have done my double MSc from Lucknow Christian College in Physics and in Chemistry from Lucknow University. Then for 16 years I taught at IIT and medical entrance coachings. I always had an interest in films and have been part of shoots of musical videos. I assisted Manish Sinha in the feature film Divyapur which stars Raghubir Yadav and Sheela Sharma that we shot in Lucknow."
After writing the film, he started shooting in Sonbhadra and intentionally kept the film's title rustic to make it more relatable.
“We also shot at the world-famous fossil park. Then our second schedule was in Lucknow and Bakshi Ka Talab, and the final schedule was done at Chomu Palace in Jaipur. The film's music and lyrics are by Varanasi-based Ajay Tiwari and have been sung by Richa Sharma, Shahid Mallya, Sana Aziz and Priyanka Singh. We have many theatre artists from Lucknow," he signs off.