British writer-producer David Farr still has faith in Shekhar Kapur and his dream to create "Paani". He says the script for the ambitious project exists, and he hopes to see the Oscar-nominated filmmaker bring its world alive on the screen some day.
Kapur announced the movie with much fanfare at the Cannes Film Festival in 2010. Based on a book by Maude Barlow and scripted by Farr along with Kapur, it was reported that the movie will tell a dark tale about the looming water crisis, showing how the water shortage will affect relationships between individuals, cities, states and nations.
But the film itself got submerged... err, shelved.
"I have met Shekhar many a times. He is a wonderful man. I would absolutely love to work with him again," Farr told IANS in an interview over phone from New York.
"I am a great fan of his movies. We were going to make this movie ('Paani'). He and I worked on wonderful project, which I still hope he will make," he added.
"Paani" had to go on floors in mid-2013 with Sushant Singh Rajput in the lead role. But nothing has been announced on that front. Farr feels the ball is in Kapur's court now.
"It is in his court now. The script exists. I haven't spoken to him in a while and I adore him. He is truly a wonderful filmmaker," he said.
Apart from "Paani", Farr is known for adding his creative vision to series "The Night Manager", 2011 film "Hanna" and Amazon Prime Video series "Hanna".
Based on Joe Wright's acclaimed 2011 film, the eight-episode series "Hanna" was written by Farr, who co-wrote the original feature film.
With a cast led by Esmé Creed-Miles, Mireille Enos, and Joel Kinnaman, "Hanna" narrates story of a young girl named Hanna, who has lived in a forest and has gained extraordinary physical abilities. It is about her experience with the modern reality.
The show explores the dynamics of a father-daughter bond, emotional issues of a family and also highlights the dilemma of how teenagers grow in the modern world and do they ever fit in.
The creator says re-imagining the world of the teenage assassin story was fun.
"When I read the screenplay, I thought it was a very different version of the film and I loved it. There was a big back story around Hanna, like why did her father bring her up in a forest and what was really going on in the past and why he is not telling her the whole truth.
"We never got there in the film. So, I decided that it was a really great option now to tell that in a very different way. We are not trying to copy the film in anyway. It is a very different version which would focus on a political conspiracy thriller and also a coming of age emotional story of a woman who leaves the forest and suddenly comes to the world and deals with its complexities."
Farr, who also serves as executive producer of the series, is on board to write the second season as well. It will debut in 2020.
"The whole thing has been conceived in a lovely way. 'Hanna' is a journey beginning when she was in the woods to the world, trying to find her place in it. And that is a long journey."