Filmmaker Shekhar Kapur and Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra engaged in an insightful discussion during a session at IFFI 2025, focusing on Kapur’s much-anticipated and delayed film, ‘Paani’.
When questioned about the status of the movie, Shekhar Kapur remarked, “A film has its own will too. I am not the only decision-maker. A film, in itself, becomes a decision-maker.” He elaborated, “Sometimes the film tells me, ‘You have to stop everything else and make this,’ and I simply follow that. So when you ask that question, you should ask the film as well — ‘Bhaiya, tum kab banogi?’”
Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra added to Kapur’s sentiments by stating, “Paani is being made. When a writer and a director, or in this case, both, like Shekhar Kapur, start creating it, he’s already making it by writing and shaping it. Whether it will be made physically is a separate matter, but creatively, he’s already making and remaking it many times.”
He continued, “And as he said, when something is meant to happen, it happens. We have been told this many times.”
‘Paani’ has long been one of Bollywood’s most discussed unmade films, with its concept circulating for over a decade. Shekhar Kapur initially developed the script around 2010–2011.
Throughout the years, the film encountered various phases of pre-production, with multiple studios showing interest to some extent, but nothing ever came to fruition. The project gained significant attention when late actor Sushant Singh Rajput was cast as the lead. Sushant dedicated considerable time to prepare for the film, focusing on fitness, acting workshops, and immersing himself in the world his character inhabited.
Unfortunately, the film’s production faced delays due to creative and financial disputes between Shekhar Kapur and the producing studio. Despite numerous delays, the project failed to regain momentum in the same capacity. The shocking demise of Sushant Singh Rajput further complicated the film’s future.