Assamese filmmaker Jahnu Barua will collaborate with a Hollywood studio for his first international project, Unread Pages. American independent-film production company Ivanhoe Pictures will co-produce the film along with Mumbai’s Easterly Entertainment, according to reports.
Uneseen Pages tells the story of three generations of a family, with the youngest settled in the United States of America and married to an American. After a series of unfortunate circumstances, he is forced to return to Assam to redeem himself. The movie will reportedly be made in English and Assamese.
Best known for his Hindi film Maine Gandhi Ko Nahin Mara (2005) Barua has won 11 National Film Awards for his Assamese work. His notable credits include Xagoroloi Bohu Door (1995), Tora (2013), Baandhon (2013) and Ajeyo (2013).
Unread Pages is reportedly the first film being made under the newly launched Assam Film Tourism Policy, which aims to encourage filmmaking in the state by offering incentives to movie producers. The policy, which came into effect on January 1 and will remain active till December 2022, hopes to attract more tourists to the state through cinema.
Production on Unread Pages is expected to start in India and the US in the second half of the year. Shahnaab Alam of Easterly Entertainment will serve as excecutive producer along with Ivanhoe’s Kilian Kerwin
“The budget will be commensurate with the creative and production requirements of the film, as per the standards of independent Indian films with very good production values,” Alam told Variety. The cast is yet to be decided but reports said it would include Assamese as well as American actors.
Ivanhoe is also producing an eight-episode TV series set in Delhi, which aims to take a “compassionate look at policing in a developing country”. The series is being directed by Canadian Indian Richie Mehta
