Director Amit Roy’s latest film, Running Shaadi, addresses a light-hearted approach on the subject of arranged marriages.
It tells the story of Ram Bharose (Amit Sadh) and his friend Sarabjeet Sidhaana aka Cyberjeet (Arsh Bajwa), who set up a website to help love struck couples in the city of Amritsar defy their families’ marriage orders and elope together.
Taapsee Pannu, who plays Nimmi, the female lead, says the reason the role appealed to her was because the character is almost similar to her.
Taapsee Pannu said, “I think for Amit Roy, he wanted me to play the role because the character is almost me on screen. The character is so like me, it was almost like I wasn’t even acting.”
She says that although she didn’t have to step too far outside her comfort zone to play Nimmi, she learnt a lot from the experience. “The characters in the film are very real. That’s where the humour comes from – not from funny lines, but from these very real characters that everyone can identify with.”
Although the movie is a light-hearted romantic comedy, Pannu concedes that the issues it addresses are a serious matter for many people. “Arranged marriage is an issue that affects a lot of people in this country,” she says. “It sometimes seems like couples have to think about everything except their own feelings when they get married. They have to think about their religion, their caste, their family, society – and the last question seems to be ‘do you actually want to marry this person?’”
Pannu says she is surprised that a website like the one in the film has not already appeared in India.
“It’s funny that no one has come up with the idea of exploiting that market before now,” she says. “We have loads of marriage websites, but ones like this, that are really for people who are in love, we don’t seem to have had yet.”
“It was great to come up with this concept in the film and build a beautiful love story around it.”
Produced by Ronnie Lahiri, Shoojit Sircar and Crouching Tiger Motion Pictures, RunningShaadi.com releases in cinemas on 17th February 2017.
