Mira Nair Unveils First Look Of Her New Film ‘Amri’
NEW YORK, NY- Filmmaker Mira Nair has announced her upcoming feature film ‘Amri,’ inspired by the life and art of celebrated painter Amrita Sher-Gil, with actors Priyanka Chopra Jonas, Jaideep Ahlawat, and Jim Sarbh among the ensemble cast.
The filmmaker also unveiled the first look of the film, which is currently completing production across India and Hungary. Speaking about the project, Nair said the art of Amrita Sher-Gil had influenced her filmmaking journey for decades.
“Every film I’ve made in the last several decades has been inspired by the art of Amrita Sher-Gil. She taught me how to see,” Nair said.
“She absorbed the best European training to distill the soul of India in a way that no one ever had — it is this distillation that has informed my own cinema from the beginning. The bravery of her palette, color and framing of the ordinary people of India has eternally moved me,” she added.
Actress Anjali Sivaraman will portray painter Amrita Sher-Gil in the film. The cast also includes British actress Emily Watson as Amrita’s mother Marie-Antoinette Gottesman, actor Jaideep Ahlawat as her father Umrao Singh Sher-Gil, Hungarian actor Krisztián Csákvári as Victor Egan, actress Anjana Vasan as Indira Sher-Gil, actor Jim Sarbh as Karl Khandalavala, and actress Priyanka Chopra Jonas as Madame Azurie.
Priyanka Chopra Jonas is also serving as an executive producer on the film.
Set across Hungary, France, and India in the early twentieth century, ‘Amri’ traces the cultural influences and experiences that shaped Amrita Sher-Gil’s artistic vision and identity.
The film also highlights Sher-Gil’s artistic evolution after becoming the youngest student admitted to the Académie des Beaux-Arts de Paris, where she trained in European artistic traditions before developing a style focused on the everyday lives of ordinary people in India.
Producer Samudrika Arora said Amrita Sher-Gil’s life reflected questions of identity and self-expression that continue to resonate with younger generations.
“Amrita Sher-Gil’s life and oeuvres reflect the aspirations of the modern generation, where identity and unapologetic self-expression meet. There is something deeply human in the tension of coming from two wildly different worlds – the challenge of belonging to both, and never entirely to either,” Arora said.
“What moved me to make this film is how Amri carried the best of each world within her, and not lose herself in the space between them. It is a privilege to bring this story to fruition alongside Mira, whose craft for telling cross-cultural stories is unparalleled,” she added.
Producer Michael Nozik said Amrita Sher-Gil’s story remained relevant beyond the period in which she lived.
“While the film is set between the two World Wars, Amrita is a character out of time and before her time — she is a true visionary artist and social revolutionary, her life story a beacon of inspiration. With Mira’s direction, Anjali’s performance of Amrita seizes that spirit of youthful curiosity and rebellion,” Nozik said. (IANS)
