Sonal Sehgal turns producer with an Indo-Latvian Sci-Fi thriller, MANNY, in which she plays the lead role
The film by Latvian director, Dace Puce, is entirely shot in Latvia, earlier this year and the technicians of both the countries have collaborated to do online post production in the Covid times
Mumbai: Following in the footsteps of Deepika Padukone, Anushka Sharma and Priyanka Chopra, the Aashayein actress Sonal Sehgal turns producer with her next, an Indo-Latvian feature, MANNY. Sonal plays the lead role in the film directed by Latvian director, Dace Puce.
Sonal, who made her acting debut opposite John Abraham in Nagesh Kukunoor’s, Aashayein will be next seen in a feature, Lihaaf, based on Ismat Chughtai controversial short story. Sonal has co-written the screenplay of Lihaaf, which is co-produced by Oscar winner producer Marc Baschet (No Man’s Land, Lunchbox).
So how did this co-production come about? “Dace and I studied together in Film School in New York. There are some people you completely creatively connect with and Dace was one of them. Over the years, we kept in touch, visited each other in our countries, bounced creative ideas off each other… We have been trying to work with each other for 8 years now! And finally, I had a script that I thought was perfect for a collaboration and we instinctively went for it” informs Sonal.
The film, which is a sci-fi psychological thriller, has been entirely shot in Latvia and wrapped shooting in January this year. Since then, the team has been working online in Covid times to finish the postproduction. The technicians working on the post are from both countries. While the edit and color grading is being done in Latvia, the music and sound mix is happening in India. Sonal says, “Well, we all had to up our online tech skills to make this collaboration work in these times where traveling to another country is banned. Surprisingly, the work has been going on seamlessly and we will soon be ready with the film”
Sonal has worn many hats in her stint in the industry. She started as a copywriter, assisted director Pradeep Sarkar, directed a short film, Dancing In The Dark about the ‘racism perpetrated by fairness creams’, acted in TV and films, co-wrote the screenplay of Lihaaf, authored a book ‘The Day That Nothing Happened’ and now she has turned producer with Indo-Latvian film, Manny in which she will also be seen as an actress. “Well, one life, I want to do it all!” signs off Sonal.
