Thriller ‘Pihu’ is all about survival
Director Vinod Kapri pulls off an incredible feat with a thriller led by a two-year-old
It’s almost audacious to cast a two-year-old baby as your protagonist in a full-length feature film. But director Vinod Kapri takes that plunge into the unknown with his new thriller Pihu, out in the UAE today.
Its edgy trailer chronicles a morbid circumstance where a small baby girl is in a deadly home alone situation.
She’s left unattended and is seen stumbling through her own home unsupervised, narrowly missing near-fatal injuries.
Her caregiver, possibly her mother, is shown passed out on her bed, while this girl tries to survive against all odds.
A foreboding warning ‘A parent’s worst nightmare’ flashes across the screen.
But before you venture out to the cinemas to watch Pihu, here are five things you should know about this film, gleaned from our interview with journalist-turned-director Kapri.
1 The director made his star discovery at his colleague’s birthday party:
“I met my Pihu [real name Pihu Myra Vishwakarma] for the first time when she was one year and ten months old at a birthday party. It was love at first sight because she was a bubbly bundle. She was so active as well. I spoke to her parents about my film and after two or three days, they agreed to be a part of my project. But the next few months were spent researching, working on my screenplay and finding funding… My biggest worry was that she would turn older than two by the time I figured out my story and funding.”
2 A major breakthrough occurred when the director stopped assuming what a two-year-old should act like:
“I was 43 when I began writing my script for Pihu. I began writing it from my view point based on my perception of how a two-year-old would react to certain situations. But I soon realised that I need to write my screenplay based on the child’s behaviour patterns… That’s how I cracked that code. I was clueless about how to ask a child to do what’s required for a scene. There are no re-takes here and we had to get it right in one take. We just began filming with different lenses and kept the cameras rolling ... There were days when we couldn’t film even a single scene, but that was OK… Pihu’s parents Rohit and Prerna were there throughout the filming to guide me.”
3 Getting funding for Pihu was frustrating:
“Nobody was buying into my idea initially. Two kinds of reactions came my way: ‘this is bizarre and impossible to shoot with a twoyear-old for that long’ and ‘how can you sustain the interest of the viewers for more than 100 minutes with a small child in the central role?’. Then I met my friend, late Kishen Kumar. I asked for Rs10 million [Dh504,362], but I got Rs4 million. It was a good start. But Kishen and I were mentally prepared from day one that film may never happen… But now the film has travelled to various film festivals and I am amazed at how well it has done there… Siddharth Roy Kapur and Ronnie Screwala jumped aboard after I showed them my film.”
4 Every parent should go watch this film even if it makes you uncomfortable:
“Pihu isn’t just a scary thriller nor is it about a kid being left alone. Pihu explores the relationship between a parent and their child. All you parents out there must give it a watch… It has a strong social message and is a mirror to what’s happening in our lives. It’s relevant and makes you wonder: ‘Every child deserves a parent, but does every parent deserve a child?’”
5 Pihu is not similar to Rajkumar Rao’s survival drama Trapped, which released in 2016:
“Pihu premiered much before Trapped released. Initially, I was disappointed to hear about a film like Trapped. But when I watched it, I realised that Pihu is different. The concept of being left alone to survive may be similar, but that’s about it.”