MUMBAI: UTV Motion Pictures’ film production brand SpotBoy has signed Shyam Benegal, Anurag Kashyap and debutant Raj Kumar Gupta to direct a film each.

“We bring films from directors of the highest calibre in this slate. Shyam Benegal and Anurag Kashyap are masters in their field and here they bring new narratives or give a twist to old narratives with their distinctive signature styles. And, Raj Kumar Gupta is someone to look out for. This slate surely includes some of the most discerning, entertaining cinema being produced in India today,” says Spotboy creative and business head Vikas Bahl.

Benegal comes back to comedy after two and a half decades with Mahadev (working title). Benegal ushered the new wave of cinema into India and has been honoured with the India’s highest honours like Padma Shri and Padma Bhushan by the Government of India. In Mahadev he narrates the story of a village, which is a representative of hundreds of villages in India. All the politics, love and romance, dreams and simplicity of a village is showcased through the eyes of a young man who wants to be a writer but ends up being a letter writer outside the post office in the village of Sajjanpur.

Kashyap, who has produced hard-hitting and real cinema, is on the lookout for Chandamukhi for his next venture Dev D, which will be the classic Devdas set in contemporary times.

Gupta, on the other hand, has been associated with Hindi feature films as a writer, assistant director and associate director makes his debut as a director with a thriller called Amir. It is the story of a young Muslim professional who lands at Mumbai International Airport expecting to be greeted by his family. Instead, he is thrown a cell phone and from that moment has to follow instructions of a faceless, nameless voice and the action starts. The will also see the big screen debut of television actor Rajeev Khandelwal (better known as Sujal). Amir is currently in the pre-production stage.