RSVP, entrepreneur and media founder Ronnie Screwvala’s motion picture company, is set to launch seven new directors.
“We want RSVP to stand for three kinds of storytelling. Stories that must be told, stories that we would love to tell, and stories that everyone goes to the movies for. Along with some other exceptional talent, we are very proud to associate with some promising debutant directors and writers who see the narrative as we do,” Screwvala said in a statement.
Anand Tiwari, who has vast experience in the world of films, advertising and theatre, will make his directorial debut with Love Per Square Foot, starring Vicky Kaushal and Angira Dhar. It premieres on Valentine’s Day across 190 countries on Netflix.
Akarsh Khurana, who has been a part of theatre for over 15 years and has also written screenplays for filmmakers Anurag Basu and Rakesh Roshan, will make directorial debut with “Karwaan”, starring Irrfan Khan, which releases in theatres worldwide on June 1.
After working as an assistant director with Ayan Mukerji, Milan Luthria, Mohit Suri and others, Sneha Taurani — daughter of Tips Music Founder Ramesh Taurani — will be debuting as a director with “Dance Franchise” — the first of which will be a bhangra film written by Punjabi writer Dheeraj Rattan.
Aditya Dhar has been an assistant to filmmakers Vidhu Vinod Chopra, Rohan Sippy, Priyadarshan and Vishal Bhardwaj. He has written the story, screenplay and dialogues for the National Award-winning short film Boond. URI, about a landmark moment in India’s military history, starring Vicky Kaushal, will be his debut film.
Vandana Kataria won an award as production designer for Oye Lucky! Lucky Oye!, participated in the Berinale Talent Campus 2016, and is currently working on Zoya Akhtar’s Gully Boy. Tara Ki Shaadi, a heart-warming but brutally honest tale set around a wedding, will be her first feature film as a writer and director.
Amit Joshi, who wrote the highly acclaimed film Trapped, now makes his directorial debut at RSVP with a comic-adventure caper about two friends on a crazy ride.
Vasan Bala, an award-winning ad filmmaker who assisted Anurag Kashyap for a decade, was an associate on Michael Winterbottom’s Trishna and co-wrote The Lunchbox, now directs Mard Ko Dard Nahin Hota. His first film Peddlers (2012) competed at the Cannes Film Festival.
In addition to the debutants, RSVP also has popular directors — Zoya Akhtar, Dibakar Banerjee, Anurag Kashyap and Karan Johar — making “four short stories on love and lust”, and more.