Veteran director and actress Aparna Sen’s upcoming project, “Her Indian Summer,” will be developed as an Indo-UK co-production, Variety said.
The film, a love story set against the backdrop of the 1947 partition of the subcontinent into India and Pakistan, is being produced by Kolkata-based producer-director Aritra Sen and Los Angeles-based British writer-director Alex Harvey’s Big Bazaar Films.
Aparna Sen gained recognition as an actress with her role in the ‘Samapti’ segment of Satyajit Ray’s Oscar-winning film ‘Three Daughters’ (1961). She appeared in several other Ray films and collaborated with renowned directors such as Mrinal Sen, Tapan Sinha, and Rituparno Ghosh. Her acting portfolio also includes Merchant-Ivory films ‘The Guru’ (1969) and ‘Bombay Talkie’ (1970).
Sen’s directorial debut, ’36 Chowringhee Lane,’ won her the Best Director award at India’s National Film Awards. Since then, she has directed several acclaimed films, including ‘Paroma’ (1984), ‘Sati’ (1989), ‘Paromitar Ek Din’ (2000), ‘Mr. and Mrs. Iyer’ (2002), ‘Goynar Baksho’ (2013), and ‘The Rapist,’ which received the Kim Jiseok Prize at the Busan International Film Festival in 2021. Earlier this year, she was featured in Suman Ghosh’s documentary ‘Parama: A Journey with Aparna Sen,’ which premiered at the International Film Festival Rotterdam.
“I am excited about my story ‘Her Indian Summer,’ which I see as an Indo-U.K. co-production with major British and Indian actors,” Aparna Sen said. “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,” added Aritra Sen.
Harvey talked about the project and shared, “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,” as per Variety.
