Taapsee Pannu and Tahir Raj Bhasin's Looop Lapeta heads to Netflix

Aakash Bhatia's remake of Tom Tykwer's cult classic Run Lola Run (1998) is headed for a digital release.

The film Looop Lapeta (2022), starring Tahir Raj Bhasin and Taapsee Pannu, will be premiered on Netflix.

The makers released a new video announcement for the film underlining the partnership with the streaming platform.

The video captures the surreal aesthetic of the film, with the loop theme upfront. The video also features the character impressions of Pannu and Bhasin running through the time loop as they look to finish their task.

Produced by Sony Pictures Films India, Ellipsis Entertainment and Aayush Maheshwari, Looop Lapeta is the Hindi of the celebrated experimental German thriller starring Franka Potente. It is also the directorial feature debut of Aakash Bhatia. In the works since 2020, the film was initially scheduled for a theatrical release in January this year. Later, the release was postponed to October 2021. Now the film has been moved to a streaming platform.

Looop Lapeta will feature Pannu in the role made iconic by Potente. The original film had Potente playing a woman who races against time to get 100,000 Deutschmarks to save her boyfriend. Pannu plays Savi, while Bhasin is in the role of Satya, her boyfriend.

Pratiksha Rao, director, films and licensing, Netflix India, said, "We are thrilled to be the home for Aakash Bhatia’s directorial feature debut, Looop Lapeta. At Netflix, we want to bring the most entertaining films to our members and Looop Lapeta is the perfect addition to our growing slate. Aakash's distinctive treatment and style married with this layered story, an unconventional plot, and remarkable performances by an ensemble cast make this a truly unique film.”

Vivek Krishnani, managing director, Sony Pictures Films India, said, “Looop Lapeta brings together an exciting combination of comedy and thriller. We at Sony Pictures Films India are constantly looking for movies that can break boundaries and provide fresh entertainment to audiences. It has been an amazing collaboration with director Aakash Bhatia and Ellipsis Entertainment to deliver a different and unique Indian take on the original cult classic, Run Lola Run.

"At Sony Pictures Films India we lay emphasis on working with new directors and talent who want to tell stories that are brave, different, entertaining and can cross over. The premiere of the film exclusively on Netflix will ensure that the film reaches a diverse global audience and will help us popularize Indian content across the world.”

Tanuj Garg and Atul Kasbekar, managing partners at Ellipsis Entertainment, said, “Looop Lapeta is yet another testimony to Ellipsis’s vision of consistently identifying and backing first-rate directorial and writing talent and unconventional clutter-breaking content appealing to new-age audiences.

"When Aayush (Maheshwari) proposed the rights to us, we swung on to them immediately because we recognized the potential of crafting a quirky thriller-comedy that hasn’t been seen before in India. We are delighted to be launching Aakash [Bhatia] as director and for teaming up with Netflix and Sony Pictures Films India, which has enabled the creation of a truly masterful film, which we hope for the global audience to watch on loop.”

Director Bhatia, said, “There is no way to downplay the exhilaration of making the first film and Looop Lapeta has surpassed every bit of it. I’m excited about the shape we have given it. It boldly jumps genres from comedy, thriller to romance and makes for a rollercoaster ride for audiences.

"My approach has been to tightly hold on to the emotional core of our story and characters while consciously playing with style and form. A powerhouse ensemble cast and crew made this project what it is. The creative collaborators in Kasbekar and Tanuj made for great producers on this debut journey. I’m elated that Netflix is the platform that the world gets to watch Looop Lapeta on.”

The makers have not yet announced a release date on Netflix for Looop Lapeta.