Mohan Kapur is laughing about one of cinema's oddest marketing puzzles: his face dominates the poster for IIZ: Indian Institute Of Zombies despite barely appearing in the trailer.
In an exclusive chat with Bollywood Hungama, the veteran actor joked about the unusual billing: "Even I found that strange. I am hardly there in the trailer and yet, they have put my face up front in the poster." He speculated: "Are the makers thinking 'Kuch gadbad hua toh iske sar pe sab daal denge?'" (If something goes wrong, they'll blame me?)
But Kapur's tone shifted quickly to genuine praise for the first-time feature filmmakers. "These guys are the most amazingly wonderful people," he said. "They have come with a lot of freshness and a beautiful approach. They are also very collaborative."
What drew the actor in was learning that Kuku FM—the audio streaming platform—was backing this zombie concept. Kapur plays Darwindra, a mad scientist who creates a "diabolical, dangerous virus" and administers it to university toppers, triggering campus chaos in what he calls "the first-of-its-kind college campus zombie horror comedy."
Kapur is convinced the film has legs. "I believe we have a sleeper hit in our hands," he declared, praising the young ensemble cast as "phenomenal." He's seen only fragments during dubbing sessions after Censor Board notes, but they left him confident: "The audience is going to be pleasantly surprised."
Directors Gaganjeet Singh and Alok Dwivedi have earned Kapur's support. "I told them, 'I believe in the power of mani[festation],'" he revealed, urging them to promote their film boldly rather than hold back.
