Kanu Behl is gearing up for his upcoming Zee5 release, Despatch, starring Manoj Bajpayee in the lead role. The filmmaker, whose investigative drama was recently featured at MAMI Mumbai Film Festival 2024, is known for his unconventional films such as Titli and Agra . He speaks about his film based on the life of an investigative journalist, independent cinema and more in an exclusive interaction with Hindustan Times.
Excerpts from the interview. (Also read: Agra director Kanu Behl: 'It is not a matter of the audience's taste or need, its more on the gatekeepers' ) Kanu Behl on the inspiration behind Despatch When asked about the inspiration behind the story of Despatch, which intrigued him to work on this project, Kanu states, "I started researching and developing this film around 2016. It took me a couple of years to write the film.
The basic impulse started with me thinking about the world of journalism along with the co-writer Ishani. We started thinking about it, and we thought that only these specific films about journalism were made. It's basically about this hero figure who is a journalist, and they end up solving these crimes for altruistic purposes.
Very few films explore what a journalist's life is like outside of the idea of them trying to work on a story they are working on." He further says, “I was also noticing the crimes that were happening against journalists. The Gauri Lankesh Murder was a very strong case.
It also troubles us that the world around you is b.