The Peddler Pedals In

Popat is Menon’s second film that will be released. Peddlers,his first major project never released in India,despite being screened at prestigious film festivals such as Cannes Film Festival’s International Critic’s Week and Toronto Film Festival,along with screenings in Los Angeles and Stockholm. “I don’t know what went wrong. Especially,after the overwhelming response we got at all the film festivals. The best time to release it would have been during the Cannes buzz,but I don’t know why it wasn’t released in India then,” says a baffled Menon about Peddlers,which was produced by Anurag Kashyap and Guneet Monga.

“I had great expectations from Peddlers. It was my first project and was an indie film in the truest sense. We went through a lot of rigour while shooting,” says Menon adding,“The locations would change often,or we would have a location to us for a limited period of time. The film had a tight budget,half of which was acquired by Monga through crowd funding on Facebook.” He recounts that the film had seven screenings at Cannes and people on the streets there started recognising them. “Then we came to Mumbai,and nobody knew us,” he says.

Despite the disappointment,2013 has been a busy year for Menon. “The shooting for Ekulti Ek began in March and the film released in May. Soon after,we started shooting for Popat and the movie will release in August,” says Menon. He adds that for Popat he was involved right from the script stage to post-production. “I have been actively taking part in the film’s promotion. The producers are going out of their way to promote the three of us (Wagh,Pawar and Menon),” he says.

But Peddlers has encouraged Menon in a special way. “I don’t know when it will be released,but it is very close to my heart. I want to make a mark for myself; so that I can facilitate Peddlers’ release,” chuckles Menon.