Made in Heaven co-director Prashant Nair bows out of the second season to focus on his web series about the 1997 Delhi fire
Mohar Basu (MID-DAY; May 7, 2020)

He stood shoulder-to-shoulder with Zoya Akhtar, Reema Kagti, Nitya Mehra and Alankrita Shrivastava as he co-directed the much-loved Amazon Prime series, Made In Heaven, last year. However, before the second season goes on floors, Prashant Nair has made a graceful exit from the picture. The Spain-based filmmaker is instead consumed with bringing a real-life story to the screen.

"I am not part of the second season as I am working on a web series based on the Uphaar Cinema tragedy," says Nair, referring to the 1997 fire at the Delhi theatre that had claimed 59 lives and injured over 100 people. "I am the show-runner, director and creator of the series that is being developed with Endemol Shine India. It's currently in the research phase," he adds.

It has been a memorable week for the filmmaker, whose latest offering, Tryst With Destiny, won the Best Screenplay award at the Tribeca Film Festival. "The organisers kept the competition section open virtually so that [the jury] can watch the links. When they announced the win, I was in my pyjamas at 2 am, feeling remarkably unglamorous, reading Danny Boyle's lovely feedback on the movie," he laughs.

Though glad that the Viineet Kumar Singh-starrer has received acclaim, Nair feels rather disconnected from the win. "I wanted to experience this moment with my cast and crew. And damn, we didn't even get a selfie with Robert De Niro [who is the co-founder of the festival]!"

Titas Chowdhury (HINDUSTAN TIMES; December 22, 2019)

Actor Viineet Kumar has been working continuously. “Yes, I haven’t had time off since August, 2018,” says the actor, who has shot for seven projects over the last one year. So, the Gangs Of Wasseypur (2012) actor had recently flown to Goa for a mini vacation with his sister. “After shooting for the Hindi remake of Thiruttu Payale 2, I headed to Goa. It was my sister’s birthday and we had a small celebration there. The last few days of the shoot drained me completely as I couldn’t get enough sleep. I was mentally exhausted as well,” he says.

The vacation proved to be therapeutic for the actor. He shares, “I wanted to go to the mountains because they are very peaceful. But I had to listen to my sister. I spent my time at the beaches of Goa, watching sunsets and gazing at the starry skies at night.”

He further adds, “For the past year, I had been working on Bard Of Blood, Aadhaar, Saand Ki Aankh, Tryst With Destiny, Betaal, Gunjan Saxena – The Kargil Girl, and the Hindi remake of Thiruttu Payale 2. And so, I wanted to slow down the momentum, contemplate on life and prepare myself for the road ahead.”

Viineet says that the vacation was a stress buster for him, as some characters that he played took an emotional toll on him. “After playing certain characters, you feel completely drained. A break helps one maintain their sanity and helps strike a balance between personal and professional lives,” says the Gold (2018) actor.

He, however, wishes he could’ve extended his stay in Goa a while longer. “Soon, I started getting calls and I had to go back to reading scripts. I don’t know when leisure turned into business. After Mukkabaaz (2017), I was reading scripts for six months without taking any break. I wanted to experiment with my films and characters and I ended up committing myself to too many projects. So, leaving one character behind and moving on to the next became a taxing process,” he signs off.

BOMBAY TIMES (August 13, 2019)

After backing award-winning films like Newton and Masaan, producer Manish Mundra is gearing up to make his directorial debut in Bollywood, with an untitled social drama inspired by true events.

Manish, the founder-producer of Drishyam Films, is also an author and photographer. Talking about his foray into direction , he says, “Deep down in my heart, there was always a desire to make my own film. However, because of other engagements and priorities, I started with producing films, which I will continue to do. I believe that this is the right time to take the next step in my creative journey.”

The film, whose screenplay will be penned by Dedh Ishqiya writer Darab Farooqui, will be co-directed by writer-director Supreet K Singh. It has been inspired by a woman, whose ordeal left a deep impact on Manish. Manish shares, “For some time now, I have been following the story of this Indian woman, and her battle against the corrupt confluence of politics, police and judiciary. It had such an impact on me that I decided to bring this important tale to the world.”

To be shot extensively in Uttar Pradesh and Delhi, by renowned cinematographer Avinash Arun, the film will go on floors in January 2020.

Since setting up his banner in 2015, Manish has been nurturing high-quality independent cinema, which has not only won acclaim at international film festivals, but has also been appreciated by the audience. Drishyam Films has four movies on its slate this year, three of which are co-produced with Jio Studios. Their upcoming releases include National Award-winning Bengali director Suman Ghosh’s Hindi debut, Adhar; veteran actor Seema Pahwa’s directorial debut Ram Prasad Ki Tehrvi (starring Konkona Sensharma and Vikrant Massey among others), and Umrika director Prashant Nair’s anthology feature, Tryst With Destiny. Along with these, they have also produced their first regional feature, a Marathi film titled Ghaath, which has been directed by Chhatrapal Ninawe and stars actor Jitendra Joshi.