Los Angeles-based Ivanhoe Pictures’ global executive vice president Kilian Kerwin who is co-producing Jahnu Barua’s maiden international project ‘Unread Pages’ said that he wants the film to compete with the best films across the globe.
Kerwin, who has earlier worked in some projects in India, is hopeful that this film will project Assam in the world cinema.
“I think with the shrinking globe and the borders sort of coming down, the story-telling can be shared globally. And for an Assamese story to reach to a global audience, we want to be a part of the project and help it make as good as possible so that it does travel across the globe,” Kerwin told The News Mill about his first project in Assam.
Though the cast is yet to be decided, besides the local actors, some faces from the West are also likely to be featured in the film which is expected to be completed in the next 24 months.
Mumbai-based production house Easterly Entertainment of Shahnaab Alam is co-producing the project. Kerwin said that he was happy to be a part of the film.
“I’m a big fan of director Barua and producer Alam. As I said, I’m sort of flattered to be invited here, to the party. We have to compete now with the best of the world… from any part of the world. We need to bring it to a level where everybody from around the globe looks into,” he added.
Ivanhoe Pictures has already worked in some Hindi projects in Mumbai. On the other hand, Alam, who represents Easterly Entertainment, has been associated with some of the biggest hits of Hindi film industry including Dhoom. Alam was also the co-producer of ‘Lunchbox’.
“We are giving the screenplay its final shape. The writing process is always lengthy and I never believe in rushing that process as the screenplay is the very foundation of the film. Jahnu (Barua) da himself is also polishing the screenplay further. Hopefully, we should have the final version soon,” Alam told The News Mill from Mumbai.
Once it’s completed, they will start looking for locations and casting options which are likely to happen from May this year onwards.
The film will be shot in Assam and North America under the Assam Film Tourism Policy of the state government. Around 30 per cent of the film will have dialogues in English and the rest will be in Assamese.
