Akash Bhatia, who has directed a few episodes of Amazon Prime Video's Inside Edge, is making his film debut with Taapsee Pannu and Tahir Raj Bhasin starrer Looop Lapeta. While the film is an official Hindi remake of German film Run Lola Run, the concept and perspective is distinctly Indian. In an interview with indianexpress.com, Taaosee called it an “experimental” film. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Taapsee Pannu (@taapsee) In this interview with indianexpress.com, the director opens up about his process and how he wants his filmmaking to be different and fresh. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Aakash Bhatia (@bhatiaaakash) Excerpts from the conversation: Looop Lapeta doesn't look like a film made by a first time filmmaker. I sharpened my knives by making commercials. It has been a great experience to be able to tell so many different stories through commercials, I've learnt everything there, and I have tried to bring it all to my filmmaking. Making films is not a one person show and I had a great crew to to take my vision to forward and a great cast to put perspective to bring in those nuances together. I also had a great team of writers. It was a relief to know that there are producers who are backing such projects and have allowed a film like this to be made in an otherwise mainstream Bollywood. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Taapsee Pannu (@taapsee) Looop Lapeta has a unique youth appeal. Is that also the target audience for your film? Films are defined by who are they made for. For us, from the very beginning, we wanted to make a craft and design treatment heavy film and not alienate our audience. We needed the film to be fun and entertaining and accessible to everybody. We made sure that the viewer should feel that they have got to see something new. We wanted the audiences to be on the edges of the seat, but now they'll be watching the film at their home and I am sure they'll find it equally engaging. What have you learnt from directing such a dynamic duo of versatile actors like Taapsee and Tahir? The conversation of debut director has come up only while I started promoting the film. While making the film, nobody made me feel that way. The joy of being on the film set is what we were attracted to. The one thing I have learnt from Taapsee and Tahir and every cast member is that every actor has their own method, and every director has their own method as well. Somewhere in the middle is where magic happens. Both, Taapsee and Tahir are very different performers, and to get best out of Taapsee requires a different approach and to get best out of Tahir requires a very different approach as well. I think the learning in that is that, as a director, one has to have various shades and versatility in dealing with so many personalities. And maybe that's why when you meet people offline, you try and engage with them differently. As a filmmaker I have a very strong opinion on how I want to do things. Both these guys and the whole cast, and others too, have respected that and vice versa I've respected everything that they have given to the film, and it is more than a 100% I'd say. Looop Lapeta is quite an experimental film to be your debut, did you not want to try something less risky and more mainstream? This is less experimental, if at all. I don't think it is just about the visual language that is fresh. We didn't want to make a film that makes audience think they've already seen before. So, risk is what gives you reward at the end of the day.
