India’s Applause Entertainment Reveals Robust Film Slate, Doubles Down on Investment as it Turns Five (EXCLUSIVE)

variety.com:

Naman Ramachandran Prolific Indian studio Applause Entertainment is celebrating its fifth anniversary with a flourishing streaming slate, several films, an ambitious expansion model and a doubling down on investment.The company is led by CEO Sameer Nair, a pioneer of Indian television with previous stints at Star TV, NDTV Imagine, Turner General Entertainment, and Balaji Telefilms.On the film front, Applause’s Hindi-language “The Rapist,” by Aparna Sen, won the prestigious Kim Jiseok award at Busan in 2021.

Next up is a film by actor-director Nandita Das, whose last film “Manto” was at Cannes. The film, which has the working title “Swigato” and is a social satire about the Indian food delivery gig economy, is currently in post.

It stars popular TV host Kapil Sharma and Shahana Goswami (“A Suitable Boy”). Tahira Kashyap Khurrana’s feature debut, the Hindi-language “Sharmajee Ki Beti” is a social comedy that follows five women from different age groups from different walks of life and stars Sakshi Tanwar (“Dangal”), Divya Dutta (“Hostages”) and Saiyami Kher (“Choked”). “It’s a real heartwarming slice of life,” Nair told Variety.Actor-director Saurabh Shukla directs Hindi-language “Jab Khuli Kitab,” based on a play by him, starring Panjaj Kapur (“Toba Tek Singh”) and Dimple Kapadia (“Tenet”). “This is what he call an ‘adult teen romance,’ which follows a pair of 70-year-olds and this is their love story,” says Nair about the film, which is also in post.Kapadia also stars in a Hindi-language adaptation of short story “Salaam Noni Apa,” from the book “The Legend of Lakshmi Prasad” written by actor turned author and columnist Twinkle Khanna.