Veteran Indian director and actor Aparna Sen‘s new project “Her Indian Summer” is set to be developed as an Indo-U.K. co-production, it was revealed during a recent London retrospective of her work.
The film, a mixed-race love story set against the backdrop of the 1947 partition of the subcontinent into India and Pakistan, is being produced by Kolkata-based Indian producer-director Aritra Sen and Los Angeles-based British writer-director Alex Harvey’s Big Bazaar Films.
Sen came to notice as an actor with the “Samapti” segment in Oscar winner Satyajit Ray’s “Three Daughters” (1961). She acted in several more films by Ray and also worked with Indian cinema greats Mrinal Sen, Tapan Sinha and Rituparno Ghosh. Her acting credits also include Merchant-Ivory films “The Guru” (1969) and “Bombay Talkie” (1970).
“36 Chowringhee Lane” (1981), Sen’s directorial debut, won her best director at India’s National Film Awards. She has directed several acclaimed films since, including “Paroma” (1984), “Sati” (1989), “Paromitar Ek Din” (2000), “Mr. and Mrs. Iyer” (2002), “Goynar Baksho” (2013) and “The Rapist,” which won the Kim Jiseok prize at Busan in 2021. She was the subject of Suman Ghosh‘s documentary “Parama: A Journey with Aparna Sen,” which had its world premiere at International Film Festival Rotterdam earlier this year.
“I am really excited about my story ‘Her Indian Summer,’ which I see as an Indo-U.K. co-production with major British and Indian actors. I am delighted that Alex Harvey and Aritra Sen of Big Bazar Films are taking this project forward and hope to start filming soon.”
“We’re delighted to be working with Aparna on an original story, which will be an English-language film just like her first,” said Aritra Sen. Big Bazaar Films is also producing “Forest of Humans,” a documentary about Satyajit Ray and Kolkata, featuring Aparna Sen and directed by Harvey.
Harvey said: “Aparna appeared in four of Satyajit Ray’s films, and also developed a lasting friendship with the great filmmaker, who acted as a mentor at the start of her own directorial career.” The company’s upcoming release, “Prantik” (The Talisman), draws inspiration from Ray’s classics “Pratidwandi” and “Jana Aranya.”
Organized by the Bengal Heritage Foundation in collaboration with Big Bazaar Films, the mini-retrospective honoring Sen’s career was held at the Nehru Centre and Cine Lumiere. The two-day event featured screenings of Sen’s films “The Japanese Wife,” “Paromitar Ek Din” and a restored print of “36 Chowringhee Lane.” The restoration was spearheaded by producer Shashi Kapoor‘s son, the actor and producer Kunal Kapoor and the screening was introduced by his other son, photographer and actor Karan Kapoor.
“The most rewarding part for me was the screening of my debut film ’36 Chowringhee Lane,’ beautifully and lovingly restored by Kunal Kapoor,” Aparna Sen said. “The new print brought out all the rich textures of the original, and did credit to Ashok Mehta’s superb photography.”
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