Neeraj Pandey on creating Operation Romeo around moral policing: ‘If it resonates emotionally, why not speak about it?’

According to director Neeraj Pandey, his latest film, Operation Romeo, “all of us have faced something like this in our lives, to varied degrees.” Operation Romeo is built on the idea of moral policing. It is a remake of the Malayalam film Ishq, which premiered in 2019 and starred Sharad Kelkar and Bhumika Chawla.

“The makers of the original picture approached us. In their opinion, we were the right people to do this without tainting the original in any way. “It’s also made by a very youthful staff,” Neeraj said to indianexpress.com. He went on to claim that the story is based on a true-life occurrence in which the author and her girlfriend were participants.

Shashant Shah is the Operation Romeo director. It’s about a couple who are pursued by a cop at an intimate moment. The cop sexually assaults the girl and feels the couple is a threat to society’s moral basis. As a result, the child vows revenge until he discovers previously unknown details about the harasser.

Neeraj Pandey is well-known for his roles in films such as A Wednesday, Baby, and Special 26. Covid’s Special Ops was one of the first huge OTT hits of 2019 when it released. From Taapsee Pannu (Baby) through Sajjad Delafrooz (Special Ops), Neeraj has been praised for consistently casting debutants in his flicks. Sidhant Gupta and Vedika Pinto are new additions to the cast of Operation Romeo. Taking note of it, the filmmaker denied that he follows any pattern in his work.

You’ll need a seasoned actor to bring that understanding to the production. You want to catch the audience off guard from time to time. We appear to be doing someone a favour and everything. However, it is a really straightforward technique. As part of Operation Romeo, hundreds of auditions were organised. It eventually made its way to Sidhant and Vedika, who not only looked the part but also looked great together.Sharad Kelkar, who portrays a crafty character, has received much acclaim. Neeraj said that he was seeking for a suitable project to collaborate on, which could not happen in Rustom. They eventually worked together in Special Ops. We were unable to work at the time due to scheduling conflicts. “However, I’m glad that didn’t happen since we ended up doing Special Ops,” Neeraj remarked.

In Operation Romeo, he’s also bringing Bhumika Chawla back to the big screen. Bhumika’s previous directorial, MS Dhoni: The Untold Story, marked his comeback to Hindi film after over a decade. “With Sharad and Bhumika, it somehow imparted the look of a fresh casting to the whole event,” Neeraj said of the cast.
Topics such as moral policing, on the other hand, may provoke a wide range of reactions. The producer is unconcerned. “We’re talking about something. We’re putting something up for discussion. “I’m not concerned about what happens to it,” he replied.

He emphasised that such traumatic events are not unusual for anybody. “If it has a strong resonance, why not talk about it?” Everyone is capable of having their own point of view. That’s OK. “You do your job, and we do ours by delivering a compelling tale and highlighting an urgent subject,” he said.

READ: Amitabh Bachchan revealed Jaya Bachchan left the Mrityudaata screening