Movie & Myth

Meet Anup Singh, the man behind Qissa and now The Song of the Scorpions.

- Nithya Subramanian

Geneva-based film maker Anup Singh’s latest feature film The Song of Scorpions was one of the Special Presentation films at the Singapore International Film Festival (SGIFF) 2017.

Featuring Irrfan Khan and veteran Indian actress Waheeda Rehman and Iranian actress Golshifteh Farahani, the movie is based on the ancient myth that the sting of a scorpion can be cured with a song sung by a scorpion singer which counters the poison of the scorpion.

Here are exclusive excerpts of an interview with Anup Singh.

Tell us a little about the film? What drew you to this Rajasthani folklore? 

Anup Singh: I started conceptualising this film after the 2012 Delhi gang rape. After that incident, like so many others, I felt my spirit was poisoned and I could not believe that there was so much brutality and inhumanity in people. I was haunted by that, but repressed these feelings. Only a year later, after I had finished filming for another job, out of exhaustion, did all the images of The Song of Scorpions start to formulate in my head, and that was how I put the story together.

How did you go about choosing the cast and why did you opt for an Iranian actress? What was it like working with Irrfan Khan and Waheeda Rehman who are both very seasoned artists?