Actor Anshuman Jha, who was earlier seen in films like Love Sex Aur Dhokha, Mona Darling, and Hum Bhi Akele Tum Bhi Akele (HBATBA), to name a few, is playing a vigilante in an action film titled, Lakadbaggha. At the trailer launch held on Tuesday afternoon, when asked about his unusual choices, Anshuman shares, “I believe in the concept of no box. It’s a human-made concept where we tend to be lazy I feel but when we do something out of it, we feel happy. My mother taught me there are no systems, you make your own system. I live my life without boxes and that’s what I do when I look for parts. The process, too, is important for me.”
Adding further he says, “With Mastram, I am the only Indian actor, who has 1000 million plus views on a digital platform and I am proud of it. These days, everyone talks about intimacy directors but three years ago, I worked with the best ones. HBATBA is an LGBTQ film, which was out of my comfort zone. With Lakadbaggha, I wanted to do something different with the action form Krav Maga, an Israeli martial art form.”
Ridhi Dogra, who had a successful stint on OTT in the last two years with shows like Asur, A Married Woman, and the recent Pitchers 2, marks her big-screen debut with Lakadbaggha. “The feeling of a debut film hasn’t sunken in yet but as Anshuman shared, there is no system, it’s a clean slate. I don’t do work keeping the medium in mind. There is a certain process I believe in. I would like to know everything and I ask too many questions. When I saw myself on the big screen at a film festival in Kolkata, I felt I look and sound good on a big screen. I should be doing films now,” she says.
Paresh Pahuja, who made a debut with Salman Khan’s Tiger Zinda Hai and shined with his performances in Taandav and Jogi, plays an antagonist in the film. Talking about being called sweet and charming, Paresh shares, “Just before the launch, I was discussing with my director Victor Mukherjee about the actor who was in 50 Shades of Grey. He went on to do a different kind of film. Looks can be deceptive. Victor and Anshuman saw me for what I am not maybe, so I loved working with them on Lakadbaggha.”
Director Victor Mukherjee, best known for Love Lust and Confusion, marks his feature debut with this film. “I believe that heroes and villains are two sides of a coin. In this film, too, the characters of Paresh and Anshuman are on the borderline of good and evil. It all started when I and Anshuman were on a road trip in Arunachal Pradesh and he told me that as a kid, his brother picked up a Hyena cub thinking of being a dog’s. That germinated the idea and I always wanted to do something around the title Lakadbaggha,” he signs off.
