Pankaj Tripath instantly agreed to star in short film 'Laali'

Actor Pankaj Tripathi, who plays the role of a laundryman in Abhiroop Basu's "Laali", says it took him just a moment to say yes to the short film. The 42-year-old actor features as the lead in the Kolkata-shot film.

"Laali is a beautiful and experimental film entirely shot in Kolkata. I shot for the first time in Kolkata. The producers of the film Sireesha Kadiyala, Madhu Singhee and Sushila Jain are groups of three young ambitious women who approached me for this film and narrated me the story at the Mumbai Airport in a span of 45 minutes and I agreed to play the part in Laali instantly," Tripathi said in a statement. The "Mirzapur" star said the film initially had a run time of 20 minutes but got stretched to over 40 minutes and he believes it turned out to be "beautiful".

"When we started shooting for the film initially it was meant to be for 20 minutes but at the time Basu wanted to retain some of the scenes instead of editing them out. Now, this film is 40 minutes long instead of 20 minutes and its looking beautiful," he added. The makers of the short recently released the film's poster, which Tripathi revealed, has been hand-painted.

"The makers decided to have a hand-painted poster as the first look of the film 'Laali'. A Kolkata-based painter was roped in to draw the poster. The poster reflects the rich art and culture of Bengal with a dash of mystery," the actor said.