Director Kanu Behl, known for his bold cinematic choices, is all set to explore the world of investigative journalism in his upcoming film Despatch. Drawing inspiration from real-life incidents that have shaken the world of crime journalism, Bahl reveals how the project came to life and what makes it unique in its approach.
In an exclusive interview, Behl explained that Despatch was born out of his deep discomfort with the increasing violence faced by journalists. "At the time when I was financing my previous project, Agra, we started witnessing a significant upheaval in the world of crime journalism. It all started with the tragic murder of Gauri Lankesh, which left me deeply disturbed. It made me reflect on the dangerous world that journalists inhabit," he shared.
The incident of Lankesh’s assassination, a well-known journalist and activist in India, had a profound impact on Bahl, pushing him to explore this complex and volatile world. "From the outside, I felt a strong pull to tell a story about crime journalism, but I also realized that most films about this world tend to focus on the plot—who did what, and why. I didn’t want to just follow a conventional story. My co-writer and I began researching the world more deeply, and we realized that it’s a world where things are never black and white. Most of the time, you don’t even know who’s behind a crime," he said.
What Behl and his co-writer discovered during their research was that the nature of investigative journalism—especially crime journalism—is so volatile and complex that trying to base the story on a single individual or case would be problematic. "The more we delved into the world, the more we felt that a film about this world shouldn’t just focus on one person or one event. The flux in this world is so huge—so many stories happen every day—that it would be an injustice to narrow it down to just one case," he explained.
For Behl, Despatch is less about the plot or a singular story and more about the people who inhabit this chaotic, morally ambiguous world. "The film is not about a particular case but about the people who live in this world. It’s about exploring the human side of these individuals, the grey areas they inhabit, and how they navigate the foggy, often dangerous environment they work in," Bahl said.
Despatch is releasing on ZEE5 on December 13, 2024.