'Midnights With Menka' a genre of fake biopic, says writer-director

Writer Viral Shah will don the director's hat with a new Gujarati movie titled "Midnights With Menka". He says it explores the unchartered territory of fake biopics on real stars, which is a completely new genre.

During his interaction with media on Thursday, Shah spoke about the unique 'biopic', which is created via fake incidents but based on a real superstar.

"'Midnights with Menka' is a first-of-its-kind in terms of storytelling, format of storytelling, the narrative and the kind of characters it has, and the genre itself. It is a comedy drama. I would say it is a complete entertainment package.

"The reason I say it is first-of-its-kind is because its genre is a fake biopic of a real person... It hasn't been seen before in Bollywood, Hollywood or regional cinema. It is very fresh, new, original and highly entertaining," Shah said.

The movie features Gujarati film star Malhar Thakar along with Esha Kansara, Hardik Sangani and Vinita Mahesh.

It chronicles the life of Malhar -- the star who is playing himself.

Shah feels the film has universal appeal as people who don't understand Gujarati too will be able to connect with it.

On his journey from writer to director with the new movie, Shah said: "When I started my own production, I had no intention of directing. I just wanted to create new and fresh content for the Gujarati (film) industry. But when people heard the idea and the story about Malhar being a superstar and his story, of course, with fake incidents, they encouraged me to make a film.

"The way the story is written, the idea was only clear to me and my co-writer as to what we wanted to show on big screen. So with support and encouragement from everyone, this is my first ever film as a writer-director."

The film, releasing on December 7, has cameos by well-known Gujarati film director Dhwani Gautam and Deeksha Joshi. Naresh Kanodia plays a pivotal role as himself in the film.

--IANS

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