After the sealing, working on a Jugaad

Filmmaker Anand Kumar is working on a movie that will tell the story of the businessmen affected by the sealing drive in Delhi, reports Princy Jain.

Businessmen affected by the sealing drive in Delhi have finally found some space on the silver screen. Filmmaker Anand Kumar is working on a movie that will tell their story — of what they went through when MCD squads walked around sealing their premises.

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Jugaad — Fact of Life is about a successful ad-filmmaker whose office is sealed. It narrates his struggle to get his life back on track.

Kumar, who earlier made Delhii Heights, says the movie doesn't aim to make a political or social statement. "The film is a comic take on the ad-filmmaker's life. It's about how this hero, and everyone around him, including his staff and the property dealers, try to make

jugaad

(temporary arrangement) in their lives, post-sealing."

Manoj 'Bhiku Mhatre' Bajpai, an alumnus of Ramjas College, plays the lead and Hrishita Bhatt plays his wife.

The movie is inspired by the real life story of Sandeep Kapur, CEO, Promodome Communications. Kapur, the producer of the film, says, "My office premise in Sheikh Sarai, worth Rs 3.5 crore, was sealed during the drive last year. Within 20 minutes my life came to a standstill."

To get the facts right, Kumar, who is also from Delhi, and Kapur did some intensive research. "We met the MCD officers, and many of those businessmen who lost their properties worth hundreds of crores," says Kumar.

Between December 14 and January 17, the film will be shot at places in and around Delhi — including Faridabad, Gurgaon and Connaught Place.