Stargazer: Anjali Sivaraman, Ranjeeta Kaur and Avantika Vandanapu

Playing Amrita Sher-Gil

One of the most hotly contested roles among several actors in recent times, the part of Amrita Sher-Gil has finally gone to Bad Girl star Anjali Sivaraman. She will play the Indo-Hungarian artist in Mira Nair’s much-awaited biopic ‘Amri’. The film covers Sher-Gil’s life and is described by Nair as a “love story, a taboo marriage, a life between worlds”. Jaideep Ahlawat plays Sher-Gil’s father, Umrao Singh Sher-Gil; Jim Sarbh is her friend and art critic Karl Khandalavala, and Priyanka Chopra Jonas is Madame Azurie, an actor often described as India’s first item girl.

Remembering Irrfan

It took her 14 years to make it, crossing many hurdles, damaging the first cut and losing 30 of 60 hours of footage, but Ranjeeta Kaur has finally complet­ed ‘A Story That Refused to Die’. A doc­umentary based on Paan Singh Tomar (2012), the Tigmanshu Dhulia film star­ring the late Irrfan Khan, it captures the difficulties in shooting the film, based on the real life soldier-athlete who became a dacoit, and was a story that the actor said needed to be told.

Comic Turn

Avantika Vandanapu, last seen on Indian screens in Prime Video’s 2024 coming-of-age series Big Girls Don’t Cry, is one of the five leads of Mindy Kaling’s upcom­ing Hulu comedy series, ‘Not Suitable for Work’. Avantika will play Abhinaya ‘Abby’ Chilukuri, a fashion assistant to a demanding celebrity stylist.