Sundance: Ritesh Batra’s ‘Photograph’ Sells Early

Director Ritesh Batra brought Hindi cinema to Cannes and TIFF in 2013 with The Lunchbox, earning international critical acclaim. Batra’s next project, Photograph, debuts at Sundance this week with the Berlin Film Festival next in line and is expected to be just as well-loved.

The film follows a reserved street photographer in Mumbai whose grandmother threatens him with an arranged marriage if he can’t find a wife. He recruits a woman to pose as his fiancée, but they end up forming a very real connection. The stars of the film are Dangal’s Sanya Malhotra and Lunchbox’s Nawazuddin Siddiqui.

Photograph has already been bought in the UK, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Australia, Greece, Hungary, Switzerland, and Turkey. Amazon has the rights in the US, Japan, and India and will be releasing the film theatrically in India on March 8.

Batra has made a name for himself in Hindi cinema with The Lunchbox and English language cinema with Our Souls at Night and The Sense of an Ending.  After Photograph‘s debut this week we’ll see if Batra can keep the momentum going and further the reach of Hindi cinema around the world.