With Looop Lapeta, Taapsee Pannu’s latest film that drops on Netflix this Friday, the actress is attempting to recreate the magic of the 1998 German experimental thriller Run Lola Run. The Tom Tykwer directed BAFTA winner is a critically acclaimed classic with an enduring appeal among film enthusiasts.
During a recent interview, we asked Taapsee if it was a monumental task to recreate such a film in the Indian context. The actress explains that the Hindi version is quite different from the German original, with a reimagining of the setting and the characters.
“No project is a cakewalk, especially when you’ve decided to take a new risk or a new chance in every project. That’s what I’ve been trying to do with every film. So even in this one, there were physical challenges. And then there were mental challenges. Physical challenges were, of course, to be able to run for two weeks straight on the roads of Goa, it was exhausting and borderline fatigue, to do that every day from sunrise to sunset,” Taapsee tells News18.
‘Looop Lapeta is very different from Run Lola Run’
“Mentally, the challenge was attempting to adapt a cult classic. I saw Run Lola Run after I’d heard the narration of Looop Lapeta and said yes to it. I thought the two films were very different. We have just probably taken the core idea of it and made a whole different film out of it. So that apprehension in my head rested totally. I knew that people who know about the original will come in with an expectation like, ‘Okay, let’s see what they have tried to do’. But soon after they will forget that it’s related to Run Lola Run, because it is a different world with different characters. So they will understand that it’s an adaptation or a homage and not really a remake,” she adds.
‘Taking up films down south was an impulsive decision that changed my life’
Looop Lapeta keeps talking about this one moment in life, one choice or decision, that could probably change your life forever. In real life, what has been that one decision for Taapsee, which has changed her life completely? “I’ve been very open about the fact that I never wanted to become an actor. I never really nurtured that dream, never planned this journey of becoming an actor. When I couldn’t clear my MBA exam – that I wanted to very badly – I ended up deciding that before my next attempt, I will just try to divert my mind while preparing for the next exam.
“I packed my bags and went to South to just have a new experience in life, thinking that I’ll come back and give my MBA exam in a year. But that adventure turned out to be my destiny. I just decided to pack my bags randomly, with no dream of becoming an actor, never performing anywhere on stage, even in school or college. I made a very impromptu, impulsive decision, ‘let’s just go and try this’, and ended up making a career out of it. So that was one decision that changed my life for good,” describes Taapsee.
‘No clarity on Shabaash Mithu release date yet’
Loop Lapeta is releasing on Netflix on February 4, a date on which her next film, Shabaash Mithu, was supposed to release in theatres. The film’s release was put on hold after cinemas shut during the third wave, and a new release date hasn’t been decided yet. But she is glad that people will get to see her on OTT at least.
“There is a change in release date of Shabaash Mithu, but I am not sure what the decision is yet. The producers will take that call. I think Looop Lapeta is releasing at the perfect time, when theaters aren’t fully open and new releases are only happening on OTT. Last two years, people didn’t have an option than to become an OTT audience. So they ended up watching the kind of content on OTT which they didn’t see in theaters. So it is really interesting to see what kind of films the same audience is going to go and watch in theaters, because the film watching palette has kind of changed over the last two years,” Taapsee concludes.
