We trusted Aakash Bhatia with his unique, mad vision, says Atul Kasbekar of Looop Lapeta

Looop Lapeta (2022), starring Taapsee Pannu and Tahir Raj Bhasin, is the fourth film to be released under Atul Kasbekar and producing partner Tanuj Garg's banner Ellipsis Entertainment. But the photographer-turned-producer told Cinestaan.com that the film had been in development for several years before having its digital premiere on Netflix this month.

Kasbekar took time out from a shoot being held on Madh Island near Mumbai earlier this month to talk about the long process of bringing Looop Lapeta to viewers. He recalled watching the German original, Run Lola Run (1998), directed by Tom Tykwer, when it originally come out.

“It had stuck to me as a very Indian concept that came out of Germany,” he recalled on telephone. “Only in India would you make a statement like 'Woh hamesha time peh pahunchta tha, ek din woh 10 minute late ho gaya aur truck se accident ho gaya [He was always punctual, but the day he was 10 minutes late he got run over by a truck]. It seemed to connect destiny with time. To my knowledge, not too many other cultures would have a conversation like this in passing. It stayed since then.”

It so happened that Kasbekar and Garg met Aayush Maheshwari, who had the Indian rights for the German film and was trying to put it together back in 2017. They decided to come on board and help take it forward.

“This was the first movie that we took on and in between we managed a bunch of others,” Kasbekar shared. “When we say every movie has its own life and story, this is true. For example, Tumhari Sulu (2017), from the time we met the director [Suresh Triveni] to Vidya [Balan] being interested to the movie being complete was 11 months. This has taken four years.”

According to Kasbekar, it took three separate sets of writers and two or three different directors until they finally had a draft that they could go ahead with. The difficulties in adapting the cult classic were there, but he and Garg consider Looop Lapeta to be a homage to the original.

He explained, “We just thought a) the idea is extremely powerful and b) when you see the film, you realize that in terms of adapting it to India, I really think our writers [Vinay Chhawal, Ketan Pedgaonkar, Aakash Bhatia and Arnav Vepa Nanduri] have done a spectacular job. It correlates to the story of Satyavan and Savitri. It’s essentially timeless love and what would you do to save the person you love. It’s there in our mythology and I think they made a great connect.”

From Ram Madhvani on Neerja (2016) to Triveni on Tumhari Sulu, the producers have backed ad film directors to direct their projects. “We see ourselves as a really solid bridge [for] some brilliant directors from advertising and to help them navigate the film space,” he said. “We are hopefully working with Razy Ghai, Sonal Dabral, who is chairman of Ogilvy, and then Ashim Ahluwalia, who is also an advertising superstar. For us, it’s extremely important to be technically brilliant and yet be able to tell a story.”

He went on, “I think there is a unique perspective that comes from [them]. In fact, Vidya’s next film is also being done by an ad director called Shirsha Guha Thakurta. It’s a zone we genuinely enjoy. I think now the word has spread that if you are from advertising, you are looking to make the big jump, then these would probably be the kind of people to partner with.”

Comparing a producer’s role to a musical symphony, Kasbekar said they backed Bhatia and his conception for the film. The Indian film is not a straightforward remake and strikes out to be different with its location and characters.

“Eventually it’s a question of playing Zubin Mehta,” he said, of complicating the film with things that don’t belong. “So you set up a platform and on the platform you get all the creative people [that] you hope you need to create a symphony. Here, we trusted Aakash with his unique, mad vision. If you are going down that road, my sincere belief is there is no point being a multi-cuisine speciality restaurant, if you want Chinese, you go to the place [that] gives you Chinese. If you want Mughlai food, then you go to the place that serves the best. I would never go to a place that has eight different cuisines on their menu.”

Kasbekar also shared that lead actress Pannu, who had known them for a while, came into the narration of the film intending to say no. “When we pitched it to her, in her head, it was in a repeat zone which she had done for a South film called Game Over (2019). But when she heard the narration, she said yes pretty much right away. She is somebody who takes chances as well,” he said, of casting the actress as Savi.

The film was also affected by the COVID-19 pandemic which delayed production, but they took the adversities in their stride. Later, the decision to premiere Looop Lapeta digitally was also not that challenging. He said that for them, it wasn’t a downer that the film wasn’t being shown theatrically.

“Personally, I really think the best content out there worldwide is showing up on your small screen,” Kasbekar said. “There is no chance of a Squid Games coming in theatres. The best writing, for example, is really happening on the OTT platform zone worldwide. It’s happening here as well.”

Moreover, he said, the demands of the big screen affect certain casting choices. Kasbekar believes the award-winning international show Delhi Crime (2019) would look very different if it were to be made into a motion picture. But since it became a web-series, it was natural that it was led by Shefali Shah who was the correct choice for the role.

He continued, “You can make your money as well, in terms of commercials, you can creatively be in another street where you can take chances with a lot of stuff that would otherwise be difficult to do. Frankly, for me, I would be very happy if every film of mine went into OTT. Personally, I think it’s going to be a different theatre in the future where you have a situation where people will go to the theatre to experience, when it’s a huge film. You want to do an Avengers kind of a scenario.”

Kasbekar also runs Bling!, the celebrity management company, which, in a way, contributed to him turning to film production. He revealed that his motivation was the scale of trying to do something different and challenge himself.

“In our talent management business, you hear so many narrations and come across so many scripts," he said. "You are on set all the time with your artistes, checking things out. And as a photographer, you are anyway involved in producing your own shoots, albeit at a significantly smaller level. So, essentially, this is multiplied by 10, 20, [or] 100, just in terms of scale.”

While he remains busy with his many responsibilities, the day-to-day management is run by his partners in charge. “My ultimate dream is to host a company Christmas party and you have somebody who says, ‘You guys have been managing us for a year now’ and I’m like, this is the first time we have actually met," he said. "Which would genuinely mean that you have given control to other people to run. You can’t sit and micro-manage everything, what’s the point of it? I would rather have good people, pay them well, reward them, incentivize them with bonuses and then great, everyone’s happy.”

While Ellipsis Entertainment is not venturing into web-series production yet, it has its hands full with films hopefully lined up for the rest of the year.

“All of sudden now we feel like a proper studio,” Kasbekar said, as he shared an update on their productions. “[After Looop Lapeta], we have got Sharmaji Ki Beti’s delivery happening shortly. The movie is ready. The Vidya Balan film is edit-locked. We are going on the floors with Sonal Dabral’s film in March. We had not planned to be this busy, but right now, it’s chaotic.”