Filmmaker Santhosh Kodenkeri To Direct The Biopic Of 'Bridgeman of India' Girish Bhardwaj

Filmmaker Santhosh Kodenkeri is all set to capture the life of Padma Shri Awardee, Girish Bhardwaj, who is often referred to as 'Sethu Bandhu' and 'Bridgeman of India' for building around 139 bridges in remote villages across the country.

Titled "The Bridgeman", the biography will be released in Kannada and Hindi languages. The project is a departure for Kodenkeri, who directed the Kannada horror thriller "Home Stay" in 2016. The director feels it is challenging to make a biographical drama because if a filmmaker shows a person's life as it is, then it may look like a documentary film.



"It's like a parallel film. It's in a similar space as 'Saand Ki Aankh' or 'Manjhi: The Mountain Man', so the style of filmmaking will be to portray a true character and subject in a cinematic way. It is a bit challenging. If we show his story as it is, then it may look like a documentary, so we have to add some ingredients and we have to show a couple of issues he faced during his journey", Kodenkeri told IANS.

Santhosh Kodenkeri further said that he and his team have taken the official permission from Bhardwaj and he is happy that his real-life will be shown to people who are unaware of it. The filmmaker also revealed the casting is underway as the movie requires a lot of actors. He will soon make an official announcement. The cast and crew will be shooting in five different locations of Kerala and Hyderabad.

Talking about the release of the film, the filmmaker added, "We are planning to release the film in 2021 but it depends on the geographical aspect as well because we want to show the monsoon period and heavy water flows in rivers. Either we have to do it against a green mat with VFX or we have to shoot the film at real locations. So, we are also working on the production design of the film".

Stay tuned...