Anshuman Jha: Wanted depiction to be as close to human vision as possible

Director Anshuman Jha with the cast of Lord Curzon Ki Haveli

Almost 12 years after he made his acting debut, Love Sex Aur Dhokha actor Anshuman Jha is set to foray into direction. An ensemble cast including Arjun Mathur, Rasika Dugal, Zoha Rahman, Paresh Pahuja, Tanmay Dhanania, and Garrick Hagon (of Star Wars fame) join him for his directorial debut, Lord Curzon Ki Haveli.

Interestingly, Jha adopted the rarely-employed technology of shooting the movie on a single lens of 35mm, a technique that was used by legendary filmmakers Alfred Hitchcock and Akira Kurosawa for classics like Psycho and Rashomon, respectively.

Writer Bikas Mishra, who has penned the script of Lord Curzon Ki Haveli, reveals, "Anshuman had made the choice on the writing table to shoot the film on a single lens." French DoP Jean Marc Selva and Indian cinematographer Ramanuj Dutta believe the move is a "brave and ballsy one" by the first-time filmmaker.

Selva says, "Anshuman had a clear vision and is not afraid to take risks as an artiste."

As he oversees the post-production of the film, Jha says, "While I had lens options at my disposal, using this technique implied that the viewers would be able to watch the film with a vision that was as close to how we normally perceive things. A single lens film has a subconscious viewing effect, and I wanted the film to look and feel like a cohesive one."

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Jha shares that Lord Curzon Ki Haveli is a contemporary homage to his favourite filmmaker, Hitchcock, and his cult classic, The Rope. The black comedy thriller, which revolves around four South Asians who meet in London over an unplanned dinner, is being readied for a release later this year.