Siddharth Roy Kapur signs on Hasee Toh Phasee director Vinil Mathew for a film on Somalian pirates

16 Dec 2017

Siddharth Roy Kapurhas signed directorVinil Mathewand screenwriterSudip Sharmafor his next film to be produced under the Roy Kapur Films banner. Vinil Mathew is a renowned ad filmmaker who made his feature film debut with the acclaimed new-age romance, Hasee Toh Phasee .Sudip Sharma is the acclaimed writer of NH10 and Udta Punjab , and is widely acknowledged as one of the foremost screenwriters in the country. Siddharth Roy Kapurconfirmed the news, Yes, we will be collaborating with Vinil and Sudip on a unique and exciting subject that our team has been developing for many months. The film is based on true events involving piracy on the Somalian high seas and is told through the eyes of a young Indian merchant navy officer, who has to navigate through unimaginably perilous circumstances, while dealing with huge personal challenges.It is a thrilling, dramatic and emotional journey, and we couldnt have asked for a better director than Vinil Mathew to tell this story. Vinils work in advertising is amongst the most accomplished I have ever seen. He has a unique ability to move you emotionally and to draw you into a narrative within the span of less than a minute. To have Sudip on board as screenwriter for the film is a huge advantage, as he unfailingly creates memorable characters, inhabits them in authentic worlds, and in theprocess creates strongconflicts and riveting drama. When Siddharth Roy Kapur first heard the true story of merchant navy officerAudumbar Bhoiwhose ship and crew was attacked bySomalian pirates, he was gripped and immediately felt that this was an incredibly unique and above all, an inspiring human story that needed to be told on the big screen. Vinil Mathew said, I have immense respect for Siddharth and his creative vision which is evident in the films he has produced over the past decade.I have been looking forward to working with him and when Siddharth shared this story with me, I instinctively knew I had to be associated with the film as it had all the right ingredients of emotion, drama and thrill. I am thrilled about our collaboration and Im sure it will be a great experience. We hope to give the audiences a truly special film. Sudip Sharma saidI am normally wary of writing commissioned scripts for producers, but Sid gives you a lot of creative freedom and lets you do your thing. I wrote a film for Disney when Sid was there. It never got made, but weve been meaning to work again with each other since. And when he pitched this story to me, I just jumped at it because it has the potential to be a tense hostage drama cum survival story, and lets you explore Somalia and maritime piracy, a world hitherto unseen in Hindi films. Overthe past few months, Vinil and Sudip have conducted intensive research on the Indian merchant navy life, as well as on the Somali piracy problem and its impact on the many Indian families that have been affected by it. It is anticipated that the film will go on the floors in the second half of 2018. Roy Kapur Films has various other noteworthy filmprojectsin thepipeline, including abiopic on Rakesh Sharma, the first Indian in space, written by Anjum Rajabaliand to be directed byMahesh Mathai; Dangal director Nitesh Tiwari snext film, based on the bookHowI Braved Anu Auntyand Co-Founded a Million Dollar Company, Shubh Mangal Saavdhaan directorR S Prasannas next film, and a film based on the true story ofVijendra Singh Rathore, the heroic Alwar-based truck driver who found his wife after a 19 month-long search in the aftermath of the Uttarakhand flash floods. In addition to producing films, Roy Kapur Films has marked its foray into digital media by entering into a landmark multi-year partnership withReliance Jioto produce original video content including digital series and Made-for-Jio films for millions of Jio subscribers across India. Siddharth Roy Kapur is the eminent producer of several critically acclaimed and commerciallysuccessfulfilms like Dangal, ABCD Any Body Can Dance 2, Haider, Barfi and Kai Po Che.He has founded his own production company Roy Kapur Films earlier this year after a long and successful stint at Disney and UTV. He is also the President of the Producers Guild ofIndia and was recently named as one of Varietys Top 500 influential people in entertainment globally, amongst only 12 Indians to feature on this list.