The Producer of Life of Pi and Slumdog Millionaire’s Tabrez Noorani is all set to take his newest film, which is his directorial debut, the fabulous “Love Sonia” for a world premiere at Europe’s largest South Asian film festival. The film will be opening The Bagri London Indian Film Festival 2018 which begins this 21st June 2018. The Festival will be attended by Director Tabez Noorani as well as the cast of the film, Mrunal Thakur, Richa Chadha, Manoj Bajpayee, Rajkummar Rao, Sai Tamhankar and Riya Sisodiya. The festival will also be attended by the film’s Producer David Womark; Executive Producer, Pravesh Sahni; Co-Producer Amar Butala; Sound Mixer Resul Pookutty; Writer, Alkesh Vaja; Composer, Niels Bye Nielsen; Editor, Martin Singer; Production Designer, Ravi Srivastav; Makeup Artist, Virginia Holmes and Co-Producer, Nadim George.
Inspired by true events, Love Sonia this is the shocking story of a young Indian village girl whose life is tumultuously and irrevocably changed when she gets entrapped in the global sex trade while trying to save the one person she is closest to, her sister Sonia. The film has been shot in Jaipur, Mumbai, Hong Kong and Los Angeles, and will be released in India this September. The film is based on an eye-opening story of Global Sex Trafficking and has a strong ensemble cast comprising of Hollywood as well as Bollywood actors, including Freida Pinto, Manoj Bajpayee, Rajkummar Rao, Richa Chadha, Anupam Kher, Adil Hussain, Sai Tamhankar, Sunny Parwar, Demi Moore, Mark Duplass, Noorani is introducing Mrunal Thakur as the lead character, as well as Riya Sisodiya.
Director Tabez Noorani was himself involved in a real-life rescue mission that took place in Hong Kong and India. Speaking about that and the film, he says, “We were keen to make a project for a global platform which would speak volumes about an issue which is a terrible problem faced by almost every community, and which has not been adequately addressed. This movie attempts to cast light on this issue.”
Producer David Womark said, “Both Tabrez and myself are proud to have Love Sonia open the Bagri London Indian Film Festival, .Ang Lee has said that when there is a strong woman character in a story–it always grabs him. We are very fortunate in Love Sonia to tell the powerful story of a strong woman’s journey.”
Co-Producer Amar Butala also said “It’s an elated feeling to take your project to a world platform where you have people from different cultures get to see a global issue, opening Love Sonia at The Bagri London Film Festival is one such immense feeling which I am extremely proud of.”
About the film festival: The Festival is dedicated to the celebration of the arts and culture of Asia and to present one of the most diverse film offerings that is an entertaining and thought provoking line-up of independent films that offer a rare window into a billion South Asian lives in the sub-continent right now. Now in its 9th year, the festival is held in three UK cities – London, Birmingham and Manchester, starting on June 21st and ending on July 1st.
Stay tuned we have interviews with Tabrez Noorani, Freida Pinto and if we are really lucky Mrunal Thakur about this excellent film.
