Manisha Koirala and Lisa Ray will feature in AR Rahman’s 99 Songs, the musician’s debut film as writer and producer. Rahman shared a video on Facebook on Thursday announcing the cast, which includes Indian Ocean musician Rahul Ram, composer-drummer Ranjit Barot, and newcomers Ehan Bhat, Edilsy Varghese, and Tenzin Dalha.
Directed by Vishwesh Krishnamoorthy, 99 songs is the coming-of-age story of a singer who aspires to become a music composer. Krishnamoorthy has previously helmed the MTV mini-series Bring On the Night. The movie will be released sometime in 2018.
In a post on Facebook in October, Rahman revealed that the makers had conducted around 1,000 auditions to choose the lead pair. He said the film would contain 10-12 songs, composed by him.
“The main actors have been trained for over a year at the KM Music Conservatory where they’ve learned to play the musical instruments needed for their roles,” Rahman wrote in the post. “They have also attended exclusive acting workshops in Hollywood.”
Founded in 2008 by the AR Rahman foundation, KM Music Conservatory offers courses in Hindustani and Western classical music, and music technology.
