Unindian, the first feature from the Australia India Film Fund (AIFF), will go into production in October in Sydney.
The romantic comedy, which looks at the complexities of the Indian diaspora and the issue of cross-cultural relationships, will star Australian cricketer Brett Lee in his first lead role and Tannishtha Chatterjee, who gained international acclaim in the feature Brick Lane.
Scripted by Thushy Saathi, the plot follows Meera (Chatterjee), a beautiful divorcee and single mother of one who has settled in Sydney and has a successful career. When she meets the charismatic Will (Lee), love is the last thing on her mind.
Her family encourages her to marry 'a nice Indian man,' which raises the questions: Does she do as her family wishes?Or does she follow her heart and live her life the way she wants to?
The director/producer is Anupam Sharma, AIFF's head of films and the founder of the Fox Studios-based Films & Casting Temple.
The fund's CEO Devendra Gupta,a Sydney-based IT entrepreneur, said: “AIFF was formed with the vision of creating high quality cross-cultural productions. Over the next few years we intend to inject significant funds into the Australian film and television industry, with specific focus on cross-cultural stories."
The venture's second film, An Indian Summer, written and directed by Vikram Singh and produced by John Winter (Rabbit Proof Fence, My Mother Frank, Paperback Hero), is due to go into production in mid-2015.