Priyanka Chopra, Jaideep Ahlawat, Jim Sarbh Join Mira Nair’s 'Amri' on Amrita Sher-Gil

Talking about Amri, Mira Nair said in a statement: "Every film I've made in the last several decades has been inspired by the art of Amrita Sher-Gil. She taught me how to see."

"She absorbed the best European training to distill the soul of India in a way that no one ever had - it is this distillation that has informed my own cinema from the beginning. The bravery of her palette, color and framing of the ordinary people of India has eternally moved me."

The ensemble cast features Anjali Sivaraman as Amrita Sher-Gil, alongside Emily Watson as her mother, Marie-Antoinette Gottesman, Jaideep Ahlawat as her father, Umrao Singh Sher-Gil, Krisztián Csákvári as Victor Egan, Anjana Vasan as Indira Sher-Gil, Jim Sarbh as Karl Khandalavala and Priyanka Chopra-Jonas as Madame Azurie.

Along with announcing the film, Mira also unveiled the first look.

"Amri" is inspired by the life and art of Amrita Sher-Gil, the pioneering woman of modern art in India whose bold aesthetic shook up the establishment during her lifetime and has achieved high stature and value in art circles around the world today.

Set across Hungary, France and India in the early twentieth century, the film traces the worlds of Europe and India that shaped Sher-Gil's imagination and her artistic vision. The film is currently completing production across India and Hungary.

Priyanka Chopra also serves as an Executive Producer on the film.

"Amri" explores her coming of age as both an artist and a woman, her restless search for selfhood, her defiance of convention even to the point of scandal in her love life, and her determination to create a visual language entirely her own.

The youngest student ever admitted to the Académie des Beaux-Arts de Paris, educated and trained in the conventions of European tradition, Amrita developed a personal aesthetic that highlighted the everyday lives of ordinary women and men in India.

This was a radical aesthetic breakthrough that later shaped Mira's own sensibility.

This project is about how an extraordinarily creative person comes to see India and its people on their own terms, not filtered through European or conventional perspectives. As such, it's about seeing and being seen, and that is its universal relevance.

Speaking about Amri, Producer Samudrika Arora added in the statement: "Amrita Sher-Gil's life and oeuvres reflect the aspirations of the modern generation, where identity and unapologetic self-expression meet. There is something deeply human in the tension of coming from two wildly different worlds - the challenge of belonging to both, and never entirely to either."

"What moved me to make this film is how Amri carried the best of each world within her, and not lose herself in the space between them. It is a privilege to bring this story to fruition alongside Mira, whose craft for telling crosscultural stories is unparalleled."

Producer Michael Nozik added, "While the film is set between the two World Wars, Amrita is a character out of time and before her time - she is a true visionary artist and social revolutionary, her life story a beacon of inspiration. With Mira's direction, Anjali's performance of Amrita seizes that spirit of youthful curiosity and rebellion."

Amri is directed by Mira Nair, who also co-wrote the film with Clara Royer. The film is produced by Samudrika Arora, Michael Nozik and Mira Nair. A Mirabai, Samscape, Papertown Production in association with KNMA and Miramax.

- IANS