Ever since its release, the Hindi film Mimi has been getting rave reviews. Actress Kriti Sanon essays the role of a surrogate mother in the film.
But did you know that a former vada pao seller is the director of Mimi. Yes, you heard it right!
In an interview with Rediff, director Laxman Utekar shared his interesting journey from being a vada pao seller to a filmmaker.
At a very young age, Laxman Utekar had to leave his parents at his native place as he left for Mumbai to make a living. While he was selling vada pao at a popular maidan in the city, one day, the municipal personnel confiscated his cart. That was a turning point. He, then happened to see an ad in a newspaper about a vacancy of a sweeper in an editing studio in north-west Mumbai.
He got the sweeper's job. At the new workplace he saw the studio life up close and began to love it. As the studio had a dearth of camera attendants, the crew took him along.
“Slowly, I became a camera attendant, than a chief camera attendant, assistant cameraman, then cameraman,” Laxman Utrekar told Rediff.com explaining his struggle in the Maximum City.
Later, he happened to direct a promo for Anthony D'Souza and he gave Laxman Utekar the first break to shoot a music video in Rajasthan. From then on, there was no looking back for Laxman Utekar.
He became a cinematographer for the 2007 movie Khanna And Iyer followed by English Vinglish in 2012.
Later in 2013 he made his directorial debut with Marathi movie Tapaal.
After being the cinematographer for a few films including Dear Zindagi, Hindi Medium and 102 not out, he ventured into direction too with 2019 Bollywood film Luka Chuppi. The film starred Kartik Aaryan and Kriti Sanon as the leads with Aparshakti Khurana, Pankaj Tripathi, Vinay Pathak and Alka Amin in supporting roles.
With his recent film Mimi, he joined hands again with Kriti and Pankaj Tripathi. Mimi is the remake of Samruddhi Porey’s National Award-winning Marathi film Mala Aai Vhhaychy, which was released in 2011. However, Laxman Utekar had his own version with the remake giving a humourous approach to the sensitive subject.
Meanwhile, after two successful directorial forays with Luka Chuppi and Mimi, Laxman is all set to don a new hat by turning producer with his next project, titled Ittu Si Baat. The film is reportedly being directed by Adnan Ali and will feature fresh faces.
