Screen Film Bazaar Day 4 2016 by Media Business Insight

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Jharkhand, a land of grandiose locations invites you with "Jharkhand Film Policy 2015" a wave of change ,which promises a whole new attitude in the treatment .Check 'em out, and have your mind blown to a new realm. They're a testament to the fact that you don't have to get out of the country to create beautiful frames. Our landscapes, our cities, our villages, our streets and our culture offer limitless forms of inspiration. email : connect.jfdcl@gmail.com

http://prdjharkhand.in/jharkhand_film_policy.php

Issued by Information & Public Relations Department, Govt. of Jharkhand in public interest

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Cricketer hits Bazaar for six BY WENDY MITCHELL

Buyers and festival programmers were buzzing about a number of titles at Film Bazaar 2016, including Kabir Mehta’s Buddhagram, an inventive documentary with risqué scenes from the life of a flamboyant cricketer. Another hot title, also in Film Bazaar Recommends, i s At a n u Mu k h e r j e e’s Unknown Faces (Rukh), a Hindi-language drama about an 18-year-old dealing with a family tragedy. Three documentaries enticing international experts

Mahajan set to thrill again

are Vrinda Samartha’s English-language Limitless about female marathon runners; Rupak Das’s A Dream Document about young Mumbaikars who dream of stardom; and serial killer story The Karma Killings by Ram Devineni and Tushar Parekh. Festival programmers were also keen on My Son Is Gay, a Tamil fiction feature by Lokesh R; and Marathi-language socially relevant horror film Hide N Seek (Lapachhapi) by Vishal Furia. The industry was also buzzing about two Malay-

alam films: Sanal Kumar Sasidharan’s fantasy Sexy Durga — which is attracting sales companies — and father-son story The Narrow Path (Ottayaal Paatha) by Santosh and Satish Babusenan. Another father-son drama with traction is Aakash Bhatia’s English-language The Color Of Loss Or Blue. In the Co-Production Market, the innovative decision to offer recorded video pitches was welcomed by attendees and participants. Dutch producer Joost de Vries of Lemming Film, who is working

Sherwin Crasto

Composer AR Rahman said at his Knowledge Series session yesterday that virtual reality offers an immersive, emotional connection. “What I like is not the technology, but how close it is to reality. You may not be able to go to the North Pole but you can experience what it must be like.” His ﬁrst VR project premiered here at Film Bazaar.

BY UDITA JHUNJHUNWALA

Writer- director Nikhil Mahajan is working on a sequel to his 2013 Marathilanguage neo-noir thriller Pune 52. “The script is done, the finance is in place. We are just waiting for [actor] Girish Kulkarni to become free,” said Mahajan, whose last film was 2015’s Baji. “The sequel will thematically follow what happened in the last film but the character played by Girish will not be the same,” Mahajan added. The film-maker is continuing to develop Hindi-language project Daily (Dainik). “It’s a period film set in the 1970s so I need a decent budget. We have about 60% of the finance.” After the Pune 52 sequel, Mahajan will also work on factory politics film Factory (Kaarkhaana).

with the producers of Aboozar Amini’s The Cineaste, said: “When we sat down with people, they were already aware of what we were discussing. It saved a lot of time and energy. It was much more effective than spending time pitching here.” It helped directors focus their thoughts before arriving in Goa, and de Vries said: “You have the added value of having moving images in your pitch, so people can see the tone and look... I think other festivals could start doing it.”

Dacoit sparks up with Sen’s Cat Sticks UK-based Indian entrepreneur Theo Shivdasani is setting up a $20m fund, Dacoit Films, to invest in a slate of independent film projects. The first title to be backed by the fund is drug-themed youth drama Cat Sticks, which will be the directing debut of Kolkata-based,

award-winning photographer Ronny Sen. Tanaji Dasgupta (Tasher Desh) and Shivdasani will produce the project through Shivdasani’s India-based production outfit, Dacoit Films India. Producer and lawyer Dina Dattani is on board as co-producer for the

UK-India co-production, which is scheduled to start shooting in Kolkata in February with a cast of newcomers. Dattani said Sen’s feature debut promises to be “visually stunning with a dose of edgy creativity”. Liz Shackleton

TODAY

A Death In The Gunj, p10

FEATURES Death becomes her Konkona Sensharma explains the family story behind A Death In The Gunj » Page 10

Breaking free Lipstick Under My Burkha challenges societal norms » Page 11

Hansen-Love brings Maya to India BY LIZ SHACKLETON

French film-maker Mia Hansen-Love (Things To Come) will start shooting her next film, Maya, in India in the last quarter of 2017. Indian newcomer Aarshi Banerjee will star alongside Roman Kolinka and Cédric Kahn. Produced by France’s Les Films Pelléas, Maya will be line produced in India by Mumbai-based La Fabrique Films. Germany’s Razor Films and ARTE are co-producing, while Les Films du Losange has French rights and will sell internationally. The film follows a French hostage returning from Syria who heads to India after his traumatic experiences. “Around two thirds of Maya will shoot in India at locations including Goa, Hampi and Bangalore,” said La Fabrique Films co-founder Deborah Benattar. “The Indian crew is excited the film is shooting on 35mm.” Helene Louvart is on board as cinematographer of the film, which will also shoot in Lebanon and France. La Fabrique Films previously line produced Dark Inclusion and Les Cowboys.

NEWS

Anagram Film sets out its second Hands BY WENDY MITCHELL

Sweden’s Anagram Film is planning a second season of its India-set TV show The Most Beautiful Hands Of Delhi. The first season of the comic drama shot this year in Delhi and will air on Sweden’s SVT from early January. Producer Malte Forssell told Screen here at Film Bazaar that if the series is well received, the second season could shoot later next year. The story is about 50-year-old Swedish cultural journalist Goran (played by Björn Kjellman), who befriends a local man, Yogi (Joy Sengupta) and his family while visiting India. Author Mikael Bergstrand has written three bestselling books about the adventures of Goran and Yogi. “The idea from the beginning is that you can create more episodes based on the friendships across these cultures,” Forssell said. The first book — and TV season — is about Goran meeting Yogi and his mother, and his attraction to a married woman. Hannes Holm (A Man Called Ove) directed and co-wrote The Most Beautiful Hands Of Delhi and could return for a second season. The first season was shot as three hour-long episodes, but Forssell hopes the second would comprise six episodes; scripts are being developed now. Indian production outfit Frames Per Second Films will again be on board. The second series will not be shot in Delhi as the stories in question require countryside vistas and tea farms instead of city locations. www.screendaily.com

Dina Dattani wises up to A Foolish Man BY LIZ SHACKLETON

UK and India-based producer Dina Dattani has boarded Co-Production Market project A Foolish Man (Apodartho) as executive producer. Bangladesh’s Abu Shahed Emon has written and will direct the project, which Mostofa S Farooki will produce. The film follows a man who is mercilessly bullied and pretends to be a policeman to gain respect. “The project appealed to me because it’s a satirical drama and he’s been very clever with the writing,”

Dina Dattani

Dattani said. “Also he’s been working on the script for several years, so it’s been polished to the point where it’s really ready to film.” The $200,000 project has already raised $62,000 in financing through Farooki’s production company Chabial. Dattani is now working with the film-mak-

ers to raise the rest of the budget, as well as advising on sales and festival strategy. Dattani recently executive produced Shubhashish Bhutiani’s Hotel Salvation, which premiered at Venice where it won the CICT Unesco award. She is working on the film’s international distribution, while an Indian theatrical release is being lined up for June 2017. Dattani has also boarded Farooki’s upcoming drama No Man’s Land as co-producer. The project won the NFDC Development Award at Film Bazaar in 2014.

Sherwin Crasto

Vista India’s Suri Gopalan on the Knowledge Series’ VoD panel

VoD experts: ‘Be your own channel’ BY LIZ SHACKLETON

Start your online marketing six months before you approach a VoD platform and build a community for your film, advised Orly Ravid of The Film Collaborative (TFC) on a Knowledge Series panel yesterday. “You have to first know your audience,” said Ravid, who founded US-based nonprofit TFC to help film-makers navigate digital distribution. “There are people who have thousands of followers on social media, so

that becomes the platform. Become your own channel through grassroots outreach and social media marketing.” She used the example of Landfill Harmonic, a doc that had 250,000 Facebook fans and was acquired by Vimeo for $250,000. “Your film will fail or succeed based on a hook or how much effort you put in,” Ravid said. Suri Gopalan, CEO of Mumbai-based digital aggregator Vista India, advised film-makers to approach local platforms, as Netflix is

becoming more selective. “To count on them as an indie is wishful thinking.” Speaking about TVoD, Gopalan said that “around 60%-70% of our transactions come out of India and only 40% from overseas, although price points are higher. That gives me hope there’s a paying market in India.” ) During Film Bazaar, TFC picked up Deepthy Tadanki’s Satyavati: And We Call This Love for worldwide festival distribution and world sales.

Tyros take cinema on the road Film-maker Sandeep Mohan told a Knowledge Series session how his feature Hola Venky! — made on a budget of $14,000 with three crew members — went on to screen in more than 90 alternative venues in India, the US and Singapore. “I called it the Great Indian Travelling Cinema, used social media especially Facebook to promote the film and found partners all over who helped screen it,” said Mohan in the session ‘Unique distribution models: reaching out the indie’. Film-maker Rohan Sippy led the discussion, which presented case studies of the innovative distribution avenues explored by Mohan and Sanal Kumar Sasidharan, and new distribution platforms such as Vivek Paul’s Reelmonk. Sasidharan crowdfunded his first feature, Oraalppokkam, and made it for $36,500. He spent two months on outreach and marketing, branding a van as a ‘Cinema Cab’, and taking a projector and sound system to some 100 screenings around Kerala. Both film-makers spoke of collecting voluntary contributions after every screening, which more than covered their costs. “It was not profitable but I was trying to break barriers and increase the indie audience base. This method of distribution is financially viable only over a longer period of time,” said Sasidharan. Udita Jhunjhunwala

November 24, 2016 Screen International 5

EVENTS THURSDAY 24th 10:30 KNOWLEDGE SERIES DATA & MARKET ANALYTICS: CAN THEY BE TOOLS FOR THE INDIE FILM-MAKER? Duration 45mins Location Ballroom, Goa Marriott Resort Applying quantitative analysis of audience viewing habits. Speakers Gautam Jain, Ormax Media; Rajkumar Akella, Rentrak India 11:30 KNOWLEDGE SERIES EXPANDING SCOPE OF THE SHORT FILM Duration 1 hour

Location Ballroom, Goa Marriott Resort The changing market for short films, web series and episodic content. Speakers Sameer Mody, Pocket Films; Shlok Sharma, filmmaker; Chintan Ruparel, Terribly Tiny Talkies; Nishant Roy Bombarde, film-maker

12:45 KNOWLEDGE SERIES THE BIG TECH ENTREPRENEUR’S STORY Duration 1 hour Location Ballroom, Marriott Goa Resort Namit Malhotra, head of Prime Focus Group, on how technology will

6 Screen International at Film Bazaar November 24, 2016

drive the industry in India and abroad. Speaker Namit Malhotra, founder/ global CEO, Prime Focus 13:00 LUNCH Duration 2 hours Location Waterfront,

Goa Marriott Resort Hosts Chhattisgarh and Karnataka tourist boards 14:15 KNOWLEDGE SERIES MONETISING CHILDREN’S CONTENT: INDIAN PERSPECTIVE AND GLOBAL BEST PRACTICE Experts including those from the Netherlands

discuss their approach to creating, financing and marketing children’s content. Speakers Monique Ruinen, Netherlands Film Fund; Syed Sultan Ahmed, LXL Ideas; Joost De Vries, producer 15:15 KNOWLEDGE SERIES THE FACEBOOK WORKSHOP: FACEBOOK’S GUIDE TO FILM MARKETING Duration 45mins Location Ballroom, Goa Marriott Resort Facebook’s Saurabh Doshi talks through the nuances of movie marketing, from preshoot to release.

Speakers Saurabh

Doshi, Facebook head of media partnerships 16:15 KNOWLEDGE SERIES BUSTING MYTHS: IMMERSIVE TECHNOLOGY AND ITS ROLE IN FUTURE CINEMA NARRATIVES Duration 1 hour Location Ballroom, Goa Marriott Resort Multi-platform expert Michel Reilhac discusses virtual reality film-making. Speaker Michel Reilhac, film-maker 17:30 KNOWLEDGE SERIES MASTERCLASS WITH PHILIP LEE:

MOUNTING AND POSITIONING THE EPIC ACROSS CULTURES Duration 1 hour Hong Kong-based producer and financier Philip Lee talks about the principles of great creative producing and his collaborations with film-makers including Christopher Nolan, Alejandro G Inarritu and Ang Lee. Speaker Philip Lee 19:00 COCKTAILS Location North

Central Lawns, Goa Marriott Resort Hosts Film In India and Prime Focus Technologies

www.screendaily.com

SCREENINGS Edited by Paul Lindsell

» Screening times and venues are correct at the time of going to press but subject to alteration.

paullindsell@gmail.com

widower Arvind to leave India and join his children in the US. As he reflects on his life, Arvind wonders about one unfulfilled promise.

THURSDAY 24th 09:45 BERNIE (India) 124mins. Dir: Neelima Lonari. Key cast: Tejaswini Lonari, Neelkanti Patekar, Rajan Tamhane, Bhushan Patil. Language: Marathi. A girl’s destiny is to choose a path between faith and belief.

Qube 1

16:30

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NATSAMRAT (NATSAMRAT ASA NAT HONE NAHI) (India) 166mins. Dir: Mahesh Manjrekar. Key cast: Nana Patekar, Medha M Manjrekar, Vikram Gokhale, Mrunmayee Deshpande. Language: Marathi. After he retires, an ageing theatre actor and his wife begin to feel unwanted by their children.

12:00 GAME OF KIN (NATI KHEL) (India) 100mins. Dir: Nagesh Bhosle. Key cast: Nagesh Bhosle, Milind Shinde, Radha Kulkarni. Language: Marathi. What would happen if women in rural India were allowed to marry multiple men? A study of the representation of adultery. Qube 2

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10:00 THE SHIFT (PALLATA) (India) 100mins. Dir: Raghu SP. Key cast: Anil Kumar, Akshata Pandavapura, Lingaraju Rajawadi. Language: Kannada. A village drummer finds his position in the community under threat. Qube 1

Editorial ofﬁce Room 170 Goa Marriott Resort & Spa

www.screendaily.com

GAME OF KIN (NATI KHEL) See box, above

perspectives on life and the emotional leap people must make to face the harsh realities of life. Qube 1

THE LEAP (CHHALAANG) (India) 96mins. Dir: Azad Balaraman Mohanraj. Key cast: Yash Gopal Solanki, Azad Mohanraj, Dikshita Solanki. Language: Hindi. The extremes of

14:00 III SMOKING BARRELS (India) 127mins. Dir: Sanjib Dey. Key cast: Subrat Dutta, Indraneil Sengupta, Mandakini Goswami. Languages: Hindi, Bengali,

Asia editor Liz Shackleton lizshackleton@gmail.com Dailies news editor Wendy Mitchell wendy.mitchell@screendaily.com Reporter Udita Jhunjhunwala uditaj@gmail.com Production editor Mark Mowbray mark.mowbray@screendaily.com

Assamese, English. Three stories from east India, each exploring a different stage of human life. Qube 3

LIFT MAN (India) 97mins. Dir: Shreedher T. Key cast: Manjappa, Sharma, Vasumathi, Sharda. Language: Kannada. The changing fortunes of politicians, as seen through the eyes of a lift operator. Based on the Kannada-language novel by Chandra Barkoor. Qube 1

PAPERBOAT (KAAGAZ KI KASHTI) (India) 127mins. Dir: Brahmanand

Siingh. Key cast: Chitra Singh, Gulzar, Mahesh Bhatt. Languages: Hindi, English, Urdu. An evocative film and intimate portrait of the ghazal maestro Jagjit Singh. This story of the admired musician is told with delight and humour. Qube 2

16:00 PIMPAL (India) 95mins. Dir: Gajendra Ahire. Key cast: Dilip Prabhavalkar, Priya Bapat, Kishore Kadam, Vrinda Gajendra Ahire, Alok Rajwade, Sakhi Gokhale. Language: Marathi. Poor health forces

Photographer Sherwin Crasto sherwin@solarisimages.com Advertising Ingrid Hammond ingridhammond@mac.com Printer Anitha Art Printers, 29-30 Oasis Industrial Estate, Santacruz (East), Mumbai — 55 2665 2970, 2665 2954 printing@anitaprinters.com

DOUBLE SEAT (India) 138mins. Dir: Sameer Vidwans. Key cast: Ankush Chaudhari, Mukta Barve. Language: Marathi. A newly married middle-class couple who live in Mumbai decide to make a life-changing journey to achieve their dreams. Qube 2

A DAGGER THROUGH THE HEART (KATYAR KALJAT GHUSALI) (India) 161mins. Dir: Subodh Bhave. Key cast: Sachin Pilgaonkar, Shankar Mahadevan, Subodh Bhave. Language: Marathi. The clash between two musical families, based on the play of the same name. Subodh Bhave’s film is a story of greed, manipulation and humiliation, set against the backdrop of a singing competition. Qube 3

Screen International UK office MBI, Zetland House, Scrutton Street, London EC2A 4HJ, UK Subscriptions +44 330 333 9414 help@subscribe.screendaily.com

November 24, 2016 Screen International at Film Bazaar 7

A thirst for Knowledge Where Film Bazaar When November 22-23, 2016 Why Knowledge Series and cocktails courtesy of Akbar Travels and UFO Digital Cinema

4 8 Screen International at Film Bazaar November 24, 2016

5 www.screendaily.com

GUEST LIST 1

10 www.screendaily.com

Avinash Changa of WeMakeVR, during the Knowledge Series panel on ‘Technology in storytelling for cinema’ 2 Film-makers Nagraj Manjule (left) and Bhaskar Hazarika on the panel ‘Stories that are being told in the vernacular and small-town India’ 3 Aanand Rai on the topic ‘Spicing up the urbanscape in mainstream films’ 4 Michael Henrichs of Die Gesellschaft, discusses ‘Ownership of the film: the chain of documents a finished film must have’ 5 Abu Shahed Emon, Batayan Productions; Kasia Karwan, The Moonshot Company; and Charles Tesson, Cannes Critics’ Week 6 Rémi Burah, ARTE France Cinema; Katharina Suckale, Bombay Berlin Film Production; and Marina Fuentes Arredonda, Cinestaan International 7 Marc Baschet, ASAP Films, with Rohan Sippy, Ramesh Sippy Entertainment 8 Debleena Sen and Ashish Avikunthak of Ashish Avikunthak Productions 9 Christine Eloy, Europa Distribution; with Wendy Mitchell, British Council and Screen International 10 Marc Irmer, Dolce Vita Films; and Déborah Benattar, La Fabrique Films 11 Actor/director Sunil Prem Vyas, programmer Uma da Cunha, and Laurence Kardish, FilmColumbia

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Sherwin Crasto

FILM BAZAAR IN PICTURES

INTERVIEW KONKONA SENSHARMA

lthough she didn’t set out to become a director, actress Konkona Sensharma says she became fascinated by a story her father used to tell about a tragic incident in the family a few decades ago. “The story grew in my head until I felt I had to write it,” Sensharma says. “I remember standing in my dad’s living room and thinking, ‘This could be a movie,’ then realising I had to write it down.” The resulting film, A Death In The Gunj, tells the tale of a sensitive student who goes on holiday to the Anglo-Indian community of McCluskieganj in the late 1970s with his overbearing, middle-class family and eventually suffers a breakdown. After premiering in Toronto, the film played at Busan and opened Mumbai Film Festival, where it won the award for best Indian female film-maker. Sensharma, who has starred in films such as Mr And Mrs Iyer and Omkara, as well as Alankrita Shrivastava’s recent feature Lipstick Under My Burkha (see opposite), is the daughter of actressdirector Aparna Sen. She originally wanted to find somebody else to write the script but was convinced to do it herself, with assistance from Disha Rindani. She developed it through the NFDC National Script Lab, working closely with mentor Marten Rabarts.

Kalki Koechlin in A Death In The Gunj

A Death In The Gunj

Social breakdown Actress-turned-director Konkona Sensharma examines notions of masculinity and entitlement in her debut feature A Death In The Gunj, which is currently playing the festival circuit. Liz Shackleton reports

Examining privilege

Sensharma’s intention was always to capture the world she had grown up in. “I’m not representative of India by a long shot but I wanted to be true to the world I know,” she says. “We speak three languages in a day, although we’re more comfortable in English, and we’re used to living with help and certain inequalities that we’re conditioned to accept.” Those inequalities are explored in the film, in which the entitled, self-assured family carouses in the countryside, with local tribespeople looking on. But the biggest victim is the young student, played by Vikrant Massey, who is teased mercilessly by friends and relatives (played by Ranvir Shorey, Tillotama Shome and Gulshan Devaiah) and casually seduced by a family friend (Kalki Koechlin). “I wanted to look at how everyone is not equal and why certain people are allowed to behave the way they do,” Sensharma explains. “I also wanted to look at masculinity. So often men are victims themselves of the patriarchal system — and when they don’t conform to traditionally accepted notions of what masculinity is, how does that affect them?”

Although she is relatively well-known for her acting, Sensharma says her script was turned down by Indian studios that believed it wasn’t commercial enough, and she didn’t find a producer until casting director Honey Trehan called to offer her a role in another film. He had recently set up production company MacGuffin Pictures with Abhishek Chaubey and decided to make A Death In The Gunj as the company’s first feature. Ashish Bhatnagar’s Studioz IDrream came on board to co-produce and finance the film. The feature was shot in McCluskieganj in 31 days, with the tight schedule dictated by budget and the availability of a busy ensemble cast. “It was a challenge getting everyone together in a place like that, which has no infrastructure; this was the first film to be shot there,”

10 Screen International at Film Bazaar November 24,2016

‘I wanted to look at how everyone is not equal and why certain people are allowed to behave the way they do’ Konkona Sensharma (pictured below)

Sensharma says, adding that she held workshops with the cast in Mumbai before leaving for the location. She also faced challenges in recreating the 1970s setting, although she describes this as “the most fun part of the whole process”. “It was difficult to research because there’s not much information online about McCluskieganj in the ’70s, and my parents and the locals all remember it differently,” Sensharma adds. “But the local people helped us recreate the era by allowing us into their homes and giving us their furniture for the film.” Studioz IDrream plans to release A Death In the Gunj in India in the first quarter of 2017, supported by a socialmedia campaign. Cinestaan Film Company’s sales arm, C International Sales, is handling international sales. A large proportion of the dialogue is in English, which could help the film travel — but Sensharma says she wasn’t conscious of that while working on the project. “Indian English hasn’t been heard that much in films, so it may be a bit jarring. But I suppose we’re getting used to s hearing different accents, so let’s see.” ■ www.screendaily.com

ALANKRITA SHRIVASTAVA INTERVIEW

Beneath the surface Alankrita Shrivastava discusses her second feature, Lipstick Under My Burkha, which follows four women and their journey to break free from the constraints of society. Udita Jhunjhunwala reports

) Where did the idea come from? It started with exploring this feeling of wanting to be completely free but being held back by internal chains. Soon after, my former landlady, who until then I had only seen in her burkha at the landlord’s house, came to visit me. I thought it was about the flat lease, but she just started chatting, and I realised she is such a dynamic person. That triggered off the character played by Konkona, and in many ways, the interconnected stories about four women who reside in the same building. Two of the women are Hindu and two are Muslim. The title is metaphorical and about hidden desires. All four characters, flaws and all, are chasing their small dreams and looking for a little space in their lives. But how much can you keep rebelling in secret? This film is about that moment when they find the courage to become themselves. ) What did you want to say about women through this ﬁlm?

Lipstick Under My Burkha (and below)

riter-director Alankrita Shrivastava’s second feature, Lipstick Under My Burkha, had its world premiere at Tokyo International Film Festival in October, where it won the Spirit of Asia Award, and also screened at Mumbai Film Festival, where it was presented with the Oxfam Award for best film on gender equality. The film follows four women in small-town India — a housewife who secretly works as a salesperson (played by Konkona Sensharma); a widow who is having a phone affair (Ratna Pathak Shah); a student trying to fit in with her peers at college (Plabita Borthakur); and a two-timing beautician (Aahana Kumra). Produced by Prakash Jha, who was also behind Shrivastava’s first feature, Turning 30!!! (2011), the film began its journey at NFDC Screenwriters’ Lab in 2012. It returned to Film Bazaar the following year when it took part in the CoProduction Market, and graduated to the Work-in-Progress Lab in 2015. Germany’s M-Appeal is handling international sales. www.screendaily.com

) How was the ﬁlm ﬁnanced and produced?

‘Society has defined certain roles for women and they are supposed to live within those boundaries’ Alankrita Shrivastava

I was working on another film, a complex legal drama, when I submitted this script to Screenwriters’ Lab. I realised it was too early for me to take on that legal drama, so I shifted my attention to this film. Prakash Jha was already on board as a producer in 2013 but I thought I’d look for a co-producer. I realised it would be difficult for me to deal with structuring an international partnership so we decided to go with a 100% domestic setup. The film is completely produced and financed by Jha, who I assisted on Apaharan and Raajneeti, and who produced both my first feature and a documentary I made on the culture of Bihar. It takes courage to support these unconventional films, but he’s always encouraged me to find my own voice.

Society has defined certain roles for women and they’re supposed to live within those boundaries. But as you go deeper you realise that to break through you first have to break out from inside. It was very important that someone watching the film should be able to live that journey with these characters and experience their lives with empathy. It’s not about religion, really, but about how it is hard for women to put themselves first and carve out their own identity when society has defined roles for them. ) Will the ﬁlm have an Indian release? We’re working on a distribution deal for India. It is screening at five international festivals this year and there was good buzz after Mumbai. Making an independent film is often a lonely process and it’s a great victory when a film releases in India. ) What’s your next project? I’m returning to the legal drama that I was working on before. I’m very excited about it but I need to finish the script. I need a strong female actor and a studio because it will be slightly biggerbudget. My desire is that from film to film I should grow as a writer, storyteller s and film-maker. ■

Screen International at Film Bazaar November 24, 2016 11

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