A Delhi film by IITians

But when Ashish Lal (25), an IIT-Delhi graduate, and his friends decided to make a movie on Delhi, they were adamant on capturing the architectural and cultural beauty of the city. Called “With Love, Delhi”, their work has turned into a full fledged Bollywood film that features Tom Alter and Seema Biswas, besides Ashish, who plays the lead. “Oh, and there’s also a song by Shaan and Sarika,” says Ashish.Anurag Kapoor, one of Ashish’sassociates in this endeavour, says the initial idea was to make a documentary onDelhi, which could help generate revenue during the Commonwealth Games. But, thenegativity around the Games itself led Ashish and his friends Ashutosh Matelaand Manav Vigg to drop the idea. When discussions started again, they realizedthey wanted to make a completely commercial film on Delhi. The story is about agirl whose father’s been kidnapped by a historian. Now, the historian willkeep giving her clues that are based in Delhi’s historical landscape andshe must decode these to rescue her father. “But,” says Anurag,“We wanted to create a buzz like the Dan Brown works that make you travelcities while discovering new facets about them.” So, the script wasprepared and another IIT-D graduate, Nikhil Singh, roped in as thedirector.Made within a budget of `2-2.5 crore, the finances for thefilm came from Ashish, Ashutosh and Manav, besides friends. Securing permissionswas not a problem, says Ashish, courtesy their associate producer Ravi Sarin.So, not only did they shoot at Khooni Darwaza, the Iron Pillar, etc, they alsomanaged to shoot at the Red Fort at midnight – something that no Bollywoodmovie has done to date.Follow us on Twitter for more stories