As the International Film Festival of India (IFFI) opened its doors in Goa early this week, the film Pihu, which is based on the real life of a two-year-old girl, was the opening movie.
What’s fascinating about Pihu is not that the film is a social thriller with a challenging subject, but the title role for the film is essayed by a two-year-old girl Myra Vishwakarma. The film is directed by National Award winning director Vinod Kapri.
“It was quite a Herculean task to complete this film,” the director begins. “Especially because we were filming with the little girl,” he adds.
Even so, the director admits that Myra brings with her truckload of talent. “I must confess, Myra is a very creatively instinctual person — she is extremely talented, a quick learner, and grasps information fast,” he says, as he boasts about the young actress.
But as is the case with the many child artistes, the director had to follow some tricks and treats for Myra to focus on the sets. “Myra is really fond of chocolates. I asked my production team keep a box full of her favourite chocolates ready on the set,” he says, as he elaborates on his plan. “No sooner did we promise to give her a chocolate after the shot was over, than she would give her best.”
Myra will be the youngest lead actress for her film Pihu at IFFI.
The film wasn’t completed overnight. In fact, during the production, the team even faced some financial difficulties. “We made Pihu on a really small budget — less than a crore! We weren’t getting financial backing from producers either,” he laments.
But now that the film is finally completed and screened at IFFI, the director plans on both a national and an international release of the film.
Talking about his future projects, Vinod shares that he hopes to work with Ajay Devgn and Akshay Kumar. “Ajay is an intense actor. And it is my long cherished dream to work with him. As for the female lead, my next film tells a story of a strong female character and there is no one better to essay that role than Vidya Balan,” he says.
