By Variety | Created at 2025-03-18 00:53:56 | Updated at 2025-03-18 05:17:49
5 hours ago
Acclaimed Indian filmmaker Saurav Rai is set to present his new project “Lanka” at this year’s Hong Kong — Asia Film Financing Forum (HAF), the project market running alongside Hong Kong FilMart.
The Hindi-language drama follows 12-year-old Shiv, who faces bullying due to his family’s old van used for school transportation. When the vehicle breaks down, his father, Krishna, decides to buy a new one but lacks sufficient funds, leading to desperate measures. Separately, a karate match between Shiv and his friend Simon ends with an injury, sparking a bitter feud between the two families that gradually escalates into a psychological war of revenge.
“Filmmaking for me is largely a medium to express and relive whatever I feel is important, human and necessary to share,” said Rai. “This story became more important as I became a father a year ago. The guilt which was there from my childhood became even more pronounced when I started experiencing the growth of my own son.”
The project explores themes of guilt, parenting, class division and the cycle of revenge. “‘Lanka’ came out of this childhood guilt of mine where I unintentionally hurt a friend during our martial art session,” Rai explained. “I breached upon this trust where I had promised to go soft on him during our sparring day but ultimately thrashed him for mere appreciation from our master.”
Rai’s previous works include “Guras” (2023), which premiered at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival where it won the Proxima Special Jury Prize, and his debut feature, “Nimtoh” (2019), which premiered at International Film Festival Rotterdam and won the grand jury prize at MAMI Mumbai Film Festival.
Co-producer Ankita Purkayastha, a sound designer whose credits include Amazon Prime’s “Panchayat” and Netflix’s “Kota Factory 2,” said their production company Neonate has been involved with Rai’s films since his debut. “The fact that we came on board as the producer for ‘Nimtoh’ and ‘Guras’ was simply out of sheer shared passion.”
According to co-producer Viraj Selot (Rotterdam selection “Joram”), the team has secured approximately one-quarter of the $1.1 million budget. “The budget perhaps will change once the principal character’s fees are decided, as we are in talks with some of the mainstream actors from India,” Selot noted.
At HAF, the producers hope to find international partners. “We are open to co-produce the film with both European and Asian forces, as the story is universal,” said Selot. “The struggles attached to parenting irrespective of the class or sociological differences and the basic need of human compassion rings true globally.”
