Manish Vatssalya: It’s prudent to shoot in real location and tell heartland stories

Actor-turned-director Manish Vatssalya hails from Poorniya and feels his home state Bihar and Uttar Pradesh are the places where so many stories are waiting to be told

Actor-turned-director Manish Vatssalya hails from Poorniya and feels his home state Bihar and Uttar Pradesh are the places where so many stories are waiting to be told.

Manish Vatssalya

“My first two films were set in Bihar; my upcoming film Hanak is based on Bikroo (Kanpur) gangster while the next will be shot in Uttar Pradesh. We have so many stories which are part of normal life for many but for the world they can be an amazing content in its depth. It’s prudent to shoot in real location and tell heartland stories,” tells the Vatssalya, 45.

He adds, “Many people wanted to come up with a film on the slain gangster Vikas Dubey but we are first to complete the shoot. Our writers (Mridul Kapil and Subodh Pandey) are from Kanpur and we wanted to it at real location but everyone said things were hot back then so we shot it in Bhopal with Manish Goyal, Chandan Roy and Daya Shankar Pandey. It’s in post-production and we hope to release later this year.”

Vatssalya will soon be shooting a project here which recently brought him to the state capital. “Same writers are developing the story for which we have zeroed on locations in Lucknow, Agra and Kanpur. I won’t be able to reveal the title for now. These days ideas get copied very easily. So, we need to protect our dreams before they turn into a reality.”

Vatssalya made directorial debut with Jeena Hai to Thok Daal (2012). “Starring Ravi Kishan, it won best foreign film at Mexico International Film Festival. Then, I directed Dussehra (2018) with Niel Nitin Mukesh followed by Scotland (2019). It got 68 international awards and it was also in Oscars Contender List in 2020. I will be shooting for OTT series Kings of Mafia in foreign locations with Shekhar and Adhyayan Suman,” he tells.