Mumbai, Popular Marathi actress Priya Bapat will begin shooting for independent filmmaker Aditya Kripalani's upcoming film in February in Singapore.

The film, "Father Like", also stars Singaporean actor Lee Huat.

"'Father Like' is a film of a 38-year-old woman who is looking for her father. A taxi driver helps her in that. For me, the film is much more than just finding her own father, it's more about finding herself, her roots and a lot more," she said.

"I'm very happy to be a part of this film not because of the fact that I'm going to get to work with Aditya, but also because I really love his process, the way he approaches actors and the amount of investment and involvement he has in his projects, is extraordinary. Also, another interesting thing is that this is going to be my first English film to be shot abroad. I am looking forward to playing Sara," she added.

Kripalani has directed the films "Tikli And Laxmi Bomb", "Tottaa Pataaka Item Maal", "Devi Aur Hero" and "Not Today'. This will be his first international project.

"I think one benefit or advantage of working with independent filmmakers is that they don't intend to create a big box office project. They want to tell their story, the hero of the film is always the story. For me, it is extremely important because ultimately the script has to be powerful, only then a film can sustain," said Priya, known for her performances in Marathi movies "Kaksparsh" and "Aamhi Doghi".

Kripalani shared that initially when his team started auditions for the film, he was worried about how they were going to conduct auditions with one actor in Singapore who is 70 years old and one actor in India, and still, keep the auditions real.

"Then we conducted auditions via Zoom with actors. We realised that if given proper direction and correct environment, actors are able to be as honest as they're in person. Priya gave two levels of auditions and she gave the best audition with as much spirit and feeling as she might have in person I think despite the fact that we were on Zoom. This is why this film is novel for me," said the director.