ROMANCING THE
National Award winner AVANTIKA HARI on her brush with fame, upcoming projects, and her love of romantic movies
Writer, director, producer and soon-to-be mother, Avantika Hari wears her many labels with ease. However, this National Award-winning auteur has distinguished herself from the breed of artists who rely on a genre to typecast their work—she aspires to bridge the gap, and this is precisely what sets her apart.
Hari’s path-breaking directorial debut, Land Goldwomen revolved around a British-asian family caught between their traditional past and a tumultuous, faction-driven present; it also addressed the social malaise of honour killings. Feted at film festivals the world over, the movie won her a National Award back home. “The National Award gave me the confidence to believe that I can make cinema which audiences can connect with,” she says. “It was also heartening to note thatjurymemberslookedatthefilmasbeing animportantcontribution to the discourse of cinema in the country.”
This isn’t Hari’s first brush with fame though—she has assisted on the Commonwealth Vision Award-winning Hat Day, a short movie that centres around the events that take place during Hat Day at a British school. Having studied at the London Film School, and subsequently worked at media houses in New York and Singapore, Hari says she is all set for mainstream cinema now and is in the process of casting for her upcoming projects. The first is an uplifting story of a new-age politician who sets out to storm the political stage in the country, and the second, titled Aam Junta is an action-packed, political thriller. She is also working with her husband on their new production company A Richer Lens, which produced the recent romantic drama London Paris Newyork.
“I’m a big romantic movies buff and am looking forward to Jai Married Jeena, a fresh new take on relationships, which our production company is handling. It is enlightening to learn something new every day, and I look forward to broadening my horizons,” she says. Take note, she is one to watch out for.