After years of anticipation, acclaimed filmmaker Mira Nair is finally bringing the story of trailblazing artist Amrita Sher-Gil to life in her new biopic “Amri”.
Kerala-born 31-year-old actress Anjali Sivaraman, known for her roles in "Class" and "Bad Girl, will play the lead role in the biopic while Jaideep Ahlawat and Priyanka Chopra-Jonas will feature in prominent roles.
Nair, the visionary filmmaker behind classics like “Monsoon Wedding”, "Salaam Bombay!", "A Suitable Boy" and “The Namesake”, has long considered this a dream project.
The film will tell the story of Amrita, the artist who redefined modern Indian art and rattled the establishment with her bold, unapologetic style.
Nair unveiled the first look of the movie on Tuesday and also announced the cast details. Emily Watson will play Sher-Gil's mother, Marie-Antoinette Gottesman, Ahlawat as her father, Umrao Singh Sher-Gil, Krisztian Csakvari as Victor Egan, Anjana Vasan as Indira Sher-Gil, Jim Sarbh as Karl Khandalavala and Chopra-Jonas as Madame Azurie.
Chopra-Jonas is also executive producing the movie, which is set across Hungary, France and India in the early 20th century to trace the worlds of Europe and India that shaped Sher-Gil’s imagination and her artistic vision.
Also read: Priyanka Chopra, Orlando Bloom to star in ‘Reset’
Sher-Gil, now considered one of the greatest women artists of the 20th century, died at the age of 28 but her paintings, now highly valuable, give a glimpse into India and its women of the time through. Some of the most famous art works from Sher-Gil include “Two Women”, “The Bride's Toilet”, “Group of Three Girls”, “Girl in Blue”, “Sleeping Woman”, “Hill Women” and several self-portraits.
“Amri” is currently completing production across India and Hungary.
“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. She absorbed the best European training to distil 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, colour and framing of the ordinary people of India has eternally moved me," Nair said in a media statement.
"Amri" explores Sher-Gil's coming of age as both an artist and a woman, her restless search for selfhood, her defiance of convention even to the point of scandal in her love life, and her determination to create a visual language entirely her own.
The film promises to be rich with the cultural, emotional and social currents of its time as it brings to life Sher-Gil.
Nair co-wrote the film with Clara Royer and also produces it with Samudrika Arora and Michael Nozik.
Follow us
