You can’t really direct a two-year-old: Vinod Kapri on 'Pihu'

Vinod Kapri took up the difficult task of making a film based on a single protagonist. If that wasn’t challenging enough, the movie’s only actor was a two-year-old girl. The director, who won a National Award for his documentary Can’t Take This Shit Anymore (2014), shot Pihu with Myra Vishwakarma, who was just two when she started shooting for the film in 2015. Vinod, who made his directorial debut with Miss Tanakpur Haazir Ho (2015), spoke to After Hrs about shooting the film, which releases tomorrow, with a protagonist so young and other challenges that he faced... 

A film with a two-year-old as the only character. That must have been tough... 

Yes, when I conceived the film, everyone told me this would be an impossible film to make. People who I approached to finance it, felt it won’t be possible to shoot with a two-year-old kid. They also said that might be a boring movie if there’s just one character, that too a child so young. I kept these aspects in mind, too. I knew I had a herculean task in front of me. I had to make a film with a two-year-old and at the same time, it had to be an engaging one. While writing the screenplay, I kept those things in mind. Even when we began shooting, I had told my producer friend, late Kishan Kumar, that we might have to stop shooting after four-five days if it isn’t working out. I was confident, but sceptical too.

What kind of planning went into the shoot?

For two to three months, I spent a lot of time with Myra every day. That really helped. I even changed my screenplay based on her behaviour. If you see the balcony scene (in the trailer) — during my interaction with her — I realised that she loves going to the balcony and calling out to people; her neighbours etc, trying to chat with them, showing them her toys, etc. I thought this would be a character that a child would display if she’s alone at home. She will definitely try to interact with the outer world. This characteristic went on to become a six-seven minute scene. That’s the reason in the end-credits, I have even given Myra additional screenplay credit for it. 

Directing a two-year-old child must’ve been challenging...

You can’t really direct a two-year-old. So, the research helped me a lot and the support of her parents. The scenes in the film that are looking scary to people were a lot of fun and games while shooting. We were just putting her in a situation and capturing it. My crew’s efficiency was very important. We knew we couldn’t do retakes, so we were shooting with three cameras so that we capture as much as possible. The beauty of this film was that the lead actor was not aware that she was shooting for it. 

How did you deal with the scenes that seem to be scary or distressing on screen in the trailer?

We ensured that she was not scared at any point. We had all safety measure required in place. Plus, her parents were on the sets at all times. Normally, in a film shoot, we have a 12-hour shift and one hour break for lunch or tea, but here we shot for only one hour and the rest of the time was our break.

Were you worried about the audience’s reaction to a film that was not like any ordinary project?

Yes, the film has been screened at many international festivals and we have got a fabulous response. Last year, however, when the film was being screened at IFFI (International Film Festival of India) as the opening film, I was very scared as I was wondering whether the Indian audience will like it as much as that in other countries. But once I saw how they were reacting to it, I was confident that it will work.