Harsh Varrdhan Kapoor’s thriller Thar is going places and the actor cannot hide his happiness.
He’s especially proud of Shreya Dev Debe, who recently won the best cinematography award at the Asian Academy Creative Awards 2022 in Singapore.
The actor explains how she became a part of the desert saga.
Photographs: Kind courtesy Harsh Varrdhan Kapoor/Instagram
‘3 years ago in 2019 @rajsingh_chaudhary and I were exchanging calls frantically trying to pull all our resources together to put the right team together to make #thar a couple of weeks before he was supposed to leave for a key Recce the cinematographer he wanted had disappeared on us,’ Kapoor writes, referring to Raj Singh Chaudhary, the writer and director of Thar.
‘This was after already persevering all the way from mid 2017 to find the right financiers/studio for the film most of those conversations resulted in everyone telling us that the film was not mainstream enough was too violent and had no songs.’
‘I honestly didn’t think I would be put in this position where I had to assume responsibility and drive this process so early in my career but I knew in my heart if I had given up the film would’ve maybe never seen the Light of day.
‘Eventually @netflix_in saw merit in the material and we were ready to go @anilskapoor was busy finishing Ak Vs Ak and I had assumed responsibility along with @rajsingh_chaudhary and Udayan to put the key pieces together so it was very scary to lose a DP so close to shoot.
‘The very moment I realised we didn’t have anyone to shoot the film I started making calls and sending messages to people I trusted about who was out there that was not very known already and was capable of photographing a film like thar, many names were recommended and discussed through this hunt I eventually saw the trailer of #catsticks directed by @ronnysen shot by @shredevdube and I was blown away I quickly went onto social media and saw her still images, the way she shot faces was really mesmerising.’
‘I knew our film was very quiet not dialogue heavy was moody and atmospheric the faces and landscapes as important as each other, having seen Shreyas work i immediately became obsessed with the idea of having her see it through her eyes, the violence had to be horrific and beautiful in equal measure, the faces had to say a lot without saying much and the landscapes had to be imprinted in the viewers minds forever.’
‘I knew I only wanted shrey and eventually after a lot of back and forth and convincing all parties this became a reality. Today we won best cinematography for india at the @asianacademycreativeawards. What a journey.’
What a journey indeed!
