Sonil Dedhia (MID-DAY; November 14, 2016)

The kiddie spy genre may be at a nascent stage in India, but that hasn’t deterred Amole Gupte from trying his hand at it. In fact, the filmmaker plans to start a franchise with his upcoming project, Sniff, a live-action adventure drama.

Gupte, the man behind acclaimed children-centric films Taare Zameen Par (2007), Stanley Ka Dabba (2011) and Hawaa Hawaai (2014), says, “I don’t audition children. Instead, I do workshops with them. During workshops for this film, I came across several talented kids who are natural in front of the camera. I am planning to turn this [Sniff] into a franchise and will cast those kids. Once this film releases, we will start planning for the series.”

Sniff, which is scheduled to release early next year, revolves around a young Sikh boy (played by eight- year-old Sunny Gill), who is a spy in the making. The shoot started in September and is likely to be wrapped up by January 2017. Gupte’s son, Partho, who featured in his last two films — Stanley Ka Dabba and won’t be part of Sniff, “He has grown taller than me, so I couldn’t cast him. He is a fabulous poet and plays the guitar well, so this time round, he will be composing a song,” the 52-year-old filmmaker informs. “But you have left me with a good thought, so there is a possibility that I might include him in the film by introducing a guest track. He might add a cool quotient to my film. Apart from Partho, we also have popular qawwali singer, Aziz Naza’s (of Charta Sooraj fame) sons, Mujtaba and Munir, who will make their debut as composers with the film.”