War drama Pippa marks director Raja Krishna Menon and actor Ishaan Khatter’s first ever collaboration. But not many know that Menon’s association with the latter’s family goes back to many years. In 2018, reports started doing the rounds that a biopic on former boxing champion and Asian Games gold medallist Dingko Singh was in the making and that it was supposed to be helmed by Menon with Shahid Kapoor taking on the role of an actor and a producer in it.
A year later, Menon in an interview stated that the writing of the film had already begun but then both him and Shahid got busy with other commitments, which led to the biopic being delayed. He, however, added that both are keen on beginning the work on the movie and would kick-start the shoot as soon as their calendars clear up. Four years later now, in an exclusive chat with News18 Showsha, Menon finally confirms that the Dingko Singh biopic isn’t getting made.
Speaking about it, the Airlift and Chef director tells us, “That film has been put on the backburner. That was a boxing film we were talking about. There was a time for it. Sometimes, you need to move on.” However, the episode didn’t strain his friendship with Kapoor and the duo continues to discuss scripts and are hopeful about collaborating in the near future. “Having said that, Shahid is a very dear of mine. Shahid, Ishaan and I’ve spent a lot of time together. We keep talking about different stuff and ideas,” remarks Menon.
Menon goes to on share that he wouldn’t want to rush into collaborating with Kapoor as getting the right story and character that he can seamlessly fit into is extremely significant. “Shahid and I speak about these ideas a lot but as Ishaan says – if I were to find a subject, it has to do justice to so many things including the character Shahid needs to play. There are bigger factors at play in terms of the kind of the story we need to tell. Hopefully, we’ll find a script that will be great. We’re friends and I’ve realised that I just really want to make films with friends,” he elaborates.
As for his latest release, Pippa dropped on Amazon Prime Video on November 10. However, earlier this year, Ronnie Screwvala’s RSVP Movies and Siddharth Roy Kapur’s Roy Kapur Films took to social media to quash rumours about Pippa’s OTT release and added that it ‘has been made for the big screen’.
Reacting to the change in the plan, Menon says, “The reach of Amazon is incredible. People across 240 countries are able to see the film and that’s a very important factor for me as the director, maker and creator. Pippa is a very important story that needed to be told. Whether it’s a big screen or a small screen release isn’t as important as the number of people who get to see it. Moreover, it will stay on Amazon for people to watch.”
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