Lucknow has a unique fragrance of its culture, heritage: Anubhav

Sinha is all set to shoot his next in Lucknow and Varanasi

Ra.One director Anubhav Sinha is gearing up to shoot his first in home state Uttar Pradesh’s Lucknow and Varanasi.

The producer-director is in Lucknow for the recce of his next for which he has signed Rishi Kapoor, Tapsee Pannu and Prateik Babbar in lead roles.

“Finally, I am shooting in Uttar Pradesh. Most of my directions (Tum Bin, Dus, Cash, Ra.One and Tum Bin-2) have been in foreign locations. I have shot very little in India. With Mulk, I will realise my dream of shooting in home state — a place which is my own,” he tells HT City.

Anubhav gets nostalgic while moving around the city hunting for locations. “Now that I am moving around to lock locations, I am wondering why I have not shot here till date. This script is inspired by a true incident that took place in this part of the world. It is very apt to base the film here and shoot in real locations,” he says.

Anubhav was born in Allahabad and brought up in Varanasi.

He has written the script and will be directing and producing the film under his banner Benaras Media Works.

“Yesterday I went to Malihabad and today I am moving around in Lucknow. There is a very special ‘khushboo’ (fragrance) of Lucknow which is very rich in culture and heritage. I am soaked in all this and it’s my script’s requirement that I came to shoot here. It’s not a very hero-heroine film. It’s a social thriller set-up in the backdrop of family relationships,” he says.

The film maker hints that unlike his love stories and fast-paced action films, this will be a more realistic film. “In the ’90s, I made a TV show Shikhar and this is little close to it. Organically, I could have shot the film in Mumbai but the culture I want to show is here.

We will also shoot the film in Varanasi also but have not zeroed in how much we will shoot between Lucknow and Varanasi,” he says.

On so many films being made here and locations being over exposed, he says, “Every director has its own perspective and way to showcase things. Thousands of films have been shot in Mumbai and no two films are the same in terms of visuals. Similarly, there is a lot to be explored and even if some locations are repeated it makes little difference.”

Anubhav plans to start the shoot in mid-October. “We are in the process of signing 4-5 more good actors which we will announce soon. The film will have actors from Lucknow too and we are in the process of finalising them,” he says.