Film Bird Bites – New role for ‘Lagaan’ director; Aneil Karia new short; Sundance winner heads to UK and ‘Ramayana’ blockbuster buzz
Ashutosh Gowariker appointed director of Indian Film Festival of India (IFFI)
FILMMAKER Ashutosh Gowariker (pictured above) has been appointed festival director of the 57th International Film Festival of India (IFFI), it’s been announced.
Gowariker succeeds filmmaker Shekhar Kapur, who served as festival director for the previous two editions of the event of IFFI – which acv has covered, most noticeably in 2023 when Michael Douglas and wife Catherine Zeta Jones attended and the Hollywood star of ‘Fatal Attraction’ received a Lifetime Achievement Award from IFFI itself.
Last year, we spoke to Kapur in Cannes about his tenure to date and his reflections on the industry at the time – see the interview below.
The appointment marks a leadership transition at one of Asia’s longest running and most prominent film festivals, first established in 1952 and the festival used to travel around the country before finding a permanent home in Goa in 2004.
Gowariker, best known for films including ‘Lagaan’ (2001), ‘Swades’ (2004) and ‘Jodhaa Akbar’ (2008) brings decades of filmmaking experience and a long association with IFFI to the role. He is also a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), the body which manages the Oscars. He is a director whose work is well-known outside India and especially among the diaspora.
We last spoke to him about his ancient epic ‘Mohenjo Daro‘ in 2016, when he came to London to support its release here. (See interview with Hrithik Roshan below).
The ministry said the appointment reflected both his contribution to Indian cinema and his sustained engagement with international film culture.
Gowariker’s connection with the festival dates back to 1984, when he first attended IFFI.
He later returned in various capacities, including serving as jury president for the international cinema section in 2024.
Responding to the announcement, Gowariker said: “It gives me immense pride and joy to serve as the Festival Director for the prestigious 57th International Film Festival of India, Goa. I feel privileged to have witnessed the evolution of this festival.”
He added: “To carry forward the legacy that has been created, nurtured, and expanded over the decades since 1952… is a great honour, accompanied by a renewed sense of responsibility.”
The festival runs from November 20-28 and will be formally launched at the Cannes Film Festival (May 12-23)- more on Cannes tomorrow (May 5).
Gowarikar on ‘Mohenjo Daro’
Shekhar Kapur on IFFI
Aneil Karia returns with satire ‘Vote Gavin Lyle’
OSCAR WINNING director Aneil Karia’s latest film ‘Vote Gavin Lyle’ has just dropped online.
It’s a political satire – only 16 minutes and looks to deconstruct the rise of a politician, who presents himself in reasonable terms – only to see Immigration as THE biggest problem facing the country.
In the film, Jack Lowden stars as ‘Gavin Lyle’, a right wing parliamentary hopeful in the fictional constituency of Fletcham and Wold.
It’s a neat presentation of a certain kind of modern political figure: articulate, camera ready, and perpetually performing authenticity while being quietly terrified underneath.
Karia is clear that he isn’t interested in demonising his subject.
“These people are as vulnerable and scared as the rest of us,” he told the press.
“I want it to be first of all, entertaining, and also thought-provoking. Hopefully it gets people thinking about the fact that often the people who purport to be our saviours are as lost, as inauthentic as we all seem to be in this moment.”
There’s something of a twist at the end but it’s nothing on the scale of his ‘The Long Goodbye’ (2020) which won an Oscar for him and co-creator Riz Ahmed, who stars in it. ‘Vote Gavin Lyle‘ is broadcast on the same channel that dropped ‘The Long Goodbye‘ – We Present – the creative arm of popular file-sharing site, We Transfer.
The pair recently enjoyed a US release for their latest feature together, a South-Asian centred tale inspired by Shakespeare’s greatest play, ‘Hamlet’ and called ‘Hamlet’ – with Ahmed in the lead role and Indian stalwart Sheeba Chadha playing his mother, Getrude. This pairing of fictional mother and son continues in Ahmed’s popular, just dropped comedy drama, ‘Bait’ on Prime Video.
Karia admits this is his first lean into comedy.
His career has been marked by versatility: from directing episodes of ‘Top Boy‘ to collaborating with musicians like Stormzy and Kano, to reimagining ‘Hamlet’ with Ahmed.
The Ipswich-raised director who talked to acv when ‘The Long Goodbye’ was first nominated, now prepares to adapt Kaliane Bradley’s sci-fi novel ‘The Ministry of Time‘ for television.
Vote for Gavin Lyle – here – https://youtu.be/GMFyg3VFSe
Aneil Karia on www.asianculturevulture.com – https://asianculturevulture.com/?s=Aneil+Karia
Sundance winner ‘Cactus Pears’ (‘Sabar Bonda’) UK release
AN INDIAN film that created history when it had its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival in 2025 is coming to UK and cinemas in Ireland from June 19.
‘Cactus Pears’ won India’s first ever narrative fiction Audience Award at Sundance in January 2025. Made and written by first time feature director Rohan Kanawade, it’s a gentle story about two guys growing close together in a rural village in Maharashtra, when one visits from the city because his father has passed away and he renews a childhood connection during the formal mourning period. Shown across some 40 countries and 85 festivals, the film has already enjoyed a theatrical released in India, the US and Germany, Austria, Spain and Switzerland. Kanawade will appear at the BFI on June 16 and be in the UK to promote the film. It’s made by London-based producer Neeraj Churi of Lotus Visual Productions and Kaushik Ray of Taran Tantra Telefilms.
India’s biggest movie making a splash in the West already
REGARDED as one of the biggest films every to come out of India – ‘Ramayana’ – based on the Hindu epic has caused quite a stir – even in the West.
A 20-minute section, screened to delegates at CinemaCon 2026 in Las Vegas last month, impressed those who saw it. There is talk of the film being released on a global scale possibly with a US based studio managing distribution – though nothing official has been announced.
It’s expected to release in time for Diwali this year and is planned as a two-part epic. It’s reported to be India’s biggest ever movie production, coming in at an estimated £350m for both instalments, including marketing and publicity.
Directed by Nitesh Tiwari and backed by Namit Malhotra and his London-headquartered DNEG firm (which specialises in VFX and has won numerous Oscars and Baftas), it’s a grand production that brings together AR Rahman and Hollywood maestro Hans Zimmer for the music and stars Bollywood icons Ranbir Kapoor (as Lord Ram) and Sunny Deol (Hanuman his faithful general) and Yash (of KGF fame.
