By Gulf News

Acclaimed Iranian actress Niki Karimi is training her camera on Dubai. Come March, she will direct a film about Iranians living in this region.


“It’s about Iranian immigrants living there. I got all the permissions sorted and I will begin to shoot in March,” said Karimi on the sidelines of Abu Dhabi International Film Festival. Karimi, who is a part of ADFF’s narrative jury competition, will not act in the feature but will direct and produce it. The director behind celebrated films such as One Night and Final Whistle says she has been shuttling between Dubai and Iran as a part of her research. She’s also its scriptwriter.




“Many people say Dubai is a fake city. But I have seen many brilliant Emirati poets at the Dubai [International] Film Festival. Also, I have many Iranian friends, the film will tell their stories. We are in pre-production stages now,” said Karimi. She may have poured the last year into this project, but is currently focussing on the films showcased at the ongoing ADFF.




“I have been a part of many jury such as Locarno, Cannes, Berlin, but here I love discovering the talent in this region,” said Karimi.

Meanwhile, Oscar-winning producer and ADFF narrative jury member Cedomir Kolar is looking to make a film in Bollywood. The topic? The famous dabbawallas in Mumbai. The film, titled Lunch Box, will be set in Mumbai and will feature Irrfan Khan in the lead. Mumbai’s dabbawallas are delivery men who are a part of an intricate meal delivery system where thousands of meals are sent to all workplaces across the city with impressive precision.


“They fascinate me and it’s just around those famous dabba guys. They never make mistake. So our film is about one mistake out of millions and an impossible love story that can come from a home delivery,” said Kolar.




He has joined hands with Bollywood’s art house favourite Anurag Kashyap and a leading French production company and Dar Entertainment to bring the story to the big screen.




“It’s a new adventure that we have begun. We have already started shooting for it in Mumbai. We shot for a week in the monsoons,” said Kolar in an interview with tabloid!.




Talks are on with actor Emraan Hashmi to rope him for another Bollywood production.




“For this one, we are hoping to get Emraan Hashmi ... I saw his new film Shanghai and I was very impressed. He was fat in this film, but in real life he was like a star. He is intelligent and talented,” said Kolar. However, he is tight-lipped about the details.




“It’s too early to confirm or talk about it. You will know about it soon.”




Kolar won an Oscar for No Man’s Land in the Best Foreign Language film category in 2001.

 

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