Natasha Coutinho (MUMBAI MIRROR; July 27, 2017)

While the audience and the market are gradually warming up to women-centric films, Konkona Sen Sharma and Kalki Koechlin’s film, Scholarship, directed by Raman Bharadwaj, has found itself in a lurch for lack of financial backing. The film, which was kicked off in Jharkhand in January this year, had been indefinitely stalled as investors are not willing to come on-board a film that has no popular male lead to boast of — Sid Makkar is cast opposite Kalki. The makers are now hoping to resume shoot in the coming months.

Producer Aditi Gupta told Mirror, “We started with the idea that a lot of women-centric films are getting made nowadays with proper releases and are being appreciated. Initially, a few investors backed out citing demonetisation as the reason but it’s been six-seven months. We approached a lot of other investors after that but all of them turned us down as our film doesn’t have a big male actor. We had shot for only 15-20 days in January. We’ve found some new investors but we’re still short of the budget we need to complete the film.”

Scholarship is about two women from the opposite ends of society. “Kalki, plays a venture capitalist while Konkona will be seen in the role of her domestic help. The film’s story is both the women’s journey and explores everything they face at personal and professional levels. We were clear right from the start that the story will be about the two women and there won’t be any changes in that,” Gupta says.

Natasha Coutinho (MUMBAI MIRROR; April 12, 2016)

The American sci-fi web series Sense 8 wrapped up a schedule in Mumbai recently. The series is now in its second season and the team, lead by Matrix-director Lana Wachowski, was out to capture the glamorous side of the Maximum City. The cast includes several Indian names like Anupam Kher, Purab Kohli, Tina Desai, Darshan Jariwala and Sid Makkar. Anupam plays Sanyam Dandekar, a chef from Mumbai who owns a restaurant. Tina is his daughter, a pharmacist, who is set to marry a man she doesn't love. The series revolves around eight strangers from different parts of the world who discover that they share a psychic link which connects them mentally and emotionally.

Sid, who had auditioned for Season one but missed out on the opportunity, is part of the series now, and plays a charmer with a hint of wickedness. Speaking about the Mumbai shoot, he informs, "Most of the film was in SoBo. When I was on top of a tall tower in Lower Parel, I realised that the idea was to showcase a snazzy, new age Mumbai as opposed to the dark, dirty and dingy city you see in many international films."

He recalls standing in front of an art gallery wondering about a particular painting and not understanding what it depicted till Lana walked across and gave him a crash course in art. "Her interpretation put things into perspective. Along with being a great director, her understanding of true artistry is amazing," he raves.