Ashim Ahluwalia’s Miss Lovely set for release in January

Start-up film distributors Easel Films has tied up with Eagle Movies to release Ashim Ahluwalia’s Miss Lovely sometime in January 2014. Both the entities have also teamed up with distribution veteran Sunny Khanna to release the film. Interestingly, Miss Lovely was launched as a documentary on the C-grade films of Bollywood fringes which flourished from 1980s till 2000. However during the research, Ashim discovered that none of the filmmakers were willing to speak on camera. Thus the project was shelved and later developed as a film script. The film stars Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Niharika Singh, Anil George and Zeena Bhatia among others. Incidentally, Easel Films has been launched with the collaboration of distribution executive Abhishek Gautam and filmmakers Bikramjit Gupta, Atanu Mukherjee and Pooja Gupte. “We hope to release the film across 200-300 screens,” said Gautam. “As a team we want to focus on distributing independent cinema in India,” he added. Meanwhile, former IFC Films executive Ryan Werner has united with distribution agency Required Viewing for the US release of Miss Lovely sometime in March 2014. Miss Lovely premiered at Cannes in Un Certain Regard in 2012 and won best film in the India Gold competition at last year’s Mumbai Film Festival. Fortissimo Films sold the film to France’s Ad Vitam in Cannes 2012. The company will also release Sangee Thongdok’s Crossing Bridges, made in the north-east Indian dialect of Sherdukpen that premiered at the Mumbai Film Festival this year.