Stargazer: Saif Ali Khan, Vidya Balan, Waheeda Rehman and Tribeny Rai

Together Again

It is a most unusual collaboration. Ritesh Batra, the filmmaker behind The Lunchbox (2013), The Sense of an Ending (2017) and Our Souls at Night (2017), which saw Robert Redford and Jane Fonda get together, is now set to direct Saif Ali Khan and Vidya Balan in a historical family drama set in Mumbai. This is the first time that Saif is reuniting with Vidya after Eklavya: The Royal Guard (2007). They were, as has been much celebrated, Shekhar and Lalita in Parineeta, Vidya’s debut Hindi film released in 2005.

Down Memory Lane

Waheeda Rehman was the chief guest at The Indian Film Festival of New Zealand where a restored print of her 1966 film Teesri Kasam was screened. The 88-year-old Rehman—who played dancer Hirabai in the film, co-starring Raj Kapoor—went down memory lane in a conversation about the Basu Bhattacharya film based on Phanishwarnath Renu’s short story. A commercial failure in its time, the film is now regarded as a classic.

Shape of Success

After her debut film Shape of Momo created a stir on the festival circuit, Sikkimese filmmaker Tribeny Rai’s next has won early plaudits. ‘A Chronicle of Minor Things’ follows the incidents after a girl is found dead on the boundary of two villages. The script edged past 604 submissions from 48 countries to win the APM Busan Award at the Asian Project Market held alongside the Busan International Film Festival, as well as the Sørfond Award which secures her an invitation to Norway.