OTT can be a landing ground but cannot replace the cinema experience: Vikash Verma

Lucknow is all set to witness the shoot of an Indo-Polish film helmed by director Vikash Verma. The filmmaker has already completed the shoot for his directorial debut No Means No that stars his son Dhruv Verma, Gulshan Grover amongst other. The filmmaker was in the city sometime back for an initial recce.

“Set during the Second World War, film dates back to the era of kings and royalty in India. And, what better location than the City of Nawabs to showcase this regalia! A very interesting portion of the film will be shot against the beautiful backdrop. The world will witness to the heritage and royal culture that Lucknow has to offer,” tells Vikash.

Verma’s film The Good Maharaja is based on the emperor of Jamnagar Digvijaysinhji Ranjitsinhji Jadeja. “The story is set in Gujarat and Poland but it will start from Lucknow which has perfect backdrop to showcase royalty. Also known as Jam Saheb, he provided refuge to 1000 Polish children and is highly regarded back in Poland. We have shot a small portion with Sanjay Dutt but main film has to be shot yet,” he tells.

Before going behind the camera, he has been part of additional crew in films like Lagaan, Deewangee, PM Narendra Modi and Bhoomi besides doing a cameo in Padmashree Laloo Prasad Yadav.

“I was born and brought up in Mumbai but we hail from Bihar. I am into security services with expertise in ransom and kidnapping recovery. I have always been passionate towards films and have been closely associated with friends in the industry where I learnt a lot assisting them,” he tells.

Verma feels OTT nowadays is surely a blessing for the industry but theatre is the place where mega films should release first.

“We shot No… in Poland in extreme conditions (-30 degrees) with five cameras and on high production value. Only big screen viewing can justify the vast canvas and scale we shot with. Due to pandemic, theatre release has become all the more challenging. OTT can be final landing ground but cannot replace the cinema experience. We don’t know what’s store in future but I will push my film for mid-summer if situation in not feasible for theatrical release,” he says.

Verma adds that he will be back in Lucknow to lock locations for his second film that he plans to shoot later this year before heading to Gujarat.