Russell Carpenter, winner of a best cinematography Oscar for his work on Titanic, is heading this week to the sandy city of Jaisalmer in India’s desert state of Rajasthan to begin lensing Parched, from Bollywood writer-director Leena Yadav.
Starring Indian actresses Tannishtha Chatterjee, Radhika Apte, Surveen Chawla, along with male lead Adil Hussain (Life of Pi), Parched is a co-production from L.A.-based Shivalaya Entertainment, a newly formed alliance between Brillstein Entertainment Partners and Bollywood star Ajay Devgn.
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Described as the bittersweet journey of a group of local women contending with the elements in rural India, Parched is written and directed by Yadav, whose credits include 2010’s Teen Patti, which starred Bollywood icon Amitabh Bachchan and Ben Kingsley.
Carpenter’s connection to India was established with the Steve Jobs biopic, Jobs, which shot some sequences in India. While Carpenter only lensed the U.S. sections of the film, the India scenes were shot by Indian cinematographer Aseem Bajaj, who happens to be Yadav’s husband.
The film’s crew also includes Oscar winner Hughes Winborne, who won best editing in 2004 for Paul Haggis‘ Crash.
Parched is jointly presented by Blue Waters Motion Pictures and Marylebone Entertainment, along with Shivalaya. Aniruddh Tanwar is named as an executive producer, with BEP executive Jai Khanna serving as producer.
Shivalaya Entertainment is repped by BEP and Cohen & Gardner in the U.S.
