Home Alone: Filmmaker Vinod Kapri talks about his next film

The narrative entirely rests on the two-year-old Pihu, (played by Pihu Myra Vishwakarma) and how she reacts to the environment around her and what she experiences when she is alone. In a larger context, the story explores the problems faced by a married couple and societal compulsions about the concept of family and children. Though all this is presented through the point of view of a kid reacting to being left alone at home by her parents. Kapri admits that making a feature-length film on a single character does seem like an ambitious idea, but he would not have it any other way. “The plot demanded that there was only one character in the film,” says Kapri, who spent four months with the kid getting to know her and familiarise her with the other crew members. The girl has never acted before and Kapri is close friends with her parents, so they agreed for her to act on this project.

There have been very few single character films, with Sunil Dutt attempting one in 1964 titled Yaadein, where he cast himself. British director Steven Knight made the 2013 single-character film Locke, starring Tom Hardy. “I faced many reservations from producers as they were sceptical about how I would execute this film with a single character. Finally, I got a production house on board to fund the film,” says Kapri, who has completed 80 per cent of the shooting. Meanwhile, he is gearing up for his first feature film release, Miss Tankpur Haazir Ho, starring Annu Kapoor and Om Puri, next month.