Take a Thrill Pill

His first feature,Michael,is a psychological thriller starring Naseeruddin Shah and Mahie Gill. The release date is yet to be finalised. Just under two- hour-long,the film is a coming-of-age story about a father and son who forge a livelihood under harsh circumstances. Shah plays a cop who gets laid off by his superiors for dereliction of duty. His 12-year old son— child actor Purab Bhandari — tries to stay by his father’s side and obey instructions. “I have always wanted to narrate a father-son story since their relationship exists at a more subtle and reserved level as compared to mother and son bonding,” says the director,who has written the story.

The film has been co-produced by Ribhu’s mentor,Anurag Kashyap. “He was the first person to whom I showed the first draft of my script in 2009,” says Ribhu,who assisted Kashyap in Gulaal (2009). His Michael seems to bears resemblance to last year’s hit,Vikramaditya Motwane’s Udaan. “My film has no similarity to Motwane’s story. I have attempted at telling a fresh story,” says Ribhu,but he admits that he was impressed after reading the rough draft of Motwane’s film.

Born and raised in Kolkata,Ribhu came to Mumbai in 2005,to pursue a bachelor’s degree in English but soon dropped out to assist director Amrit Sagar in his war film,1971 . Soon,he had bagged an assistant’s role in Shashanka Ghosh’s,Quick Gun Murugun (2009),followed by a stint with Kashyap in Gulaal. Ribhu is currently working on two scripts,an action-thriller and a comedy. “You will never see me making a masala Bollywood film,” he adds.