MUMBAI: Film maker Onir Anirban has completed his I am Megha in the valleys of Srinagar. The story of a Hindu girl and her Muslim friend is what makes this film a third in the series of I am films that Onir and friend, producer Sanjay Suri started a few months back.
Talking to Businessofcinema.com from Srinagar, the film maker said, “I cast Juhi Chawla as the Hindu Pandit girl who leaves her hometown for further studies. On her return, she finds her best friend, Manisha Koirala, a Muislim girl living in her home. Things have changed since Juhi has gone and we have tried to capture the changes in the valley through the friendship of these two girls.”
The series of I am films have been funded through public donations. While the technicians and artists have worked without remuneration, most of the supplies have come through different types of contribution. Onir said, “In Srinagar, our line producer was Faizal Burra. He gave us his hotels to stay and helped us a lot. A crew of 70 odd people was stationed in Srinagar for this shoot. At the end of it, Faizal also offered to be a co-producer for this film as the costs had rocketed. We had budgeted Rs 30 lakhs per film. While the other two films shot in Bangalore and Mumbai were within our budget, the expenses in I am Megha shot up as we had to transport equipment and generator vans from Mumbai. The traveling from Mumbai to Srinagar took six days, which put everything out of gear. But now that Faizal has come on board, we are breathing easy.”
Chawla and Koirala will be returning to Hindi films after some time and both these actresses enjoyed the experience of getting meaty roles to enact. The crew will return to Mumbai on Friday.
