Hindi
Cause Entertainment to co-produce film on Ramanujan with UK firm
MUMBAI: Cause Entertainment is co-producing its maiden film, A First Class Man, with UK-based Picture Palace Productions.
Cause Entertainment, a fund established to invest in socially conscious movies, is fully financing the mid-budget English language film. Picture Palace Productions will provide production help for the movie which is being partly shot in the UK.
Directed by Roger Spottiswoode, the movie is based on the life of Indian mathematician Srinivasa Ramanujan.
Based on the play of the same name by David Freeman, the film follows the life of Tamil Nadu-born Ramanujan (1887-1920), who had no formal education but devised mathematical theories that were years ahead of his time. He was invited to Cambridge by mathematician G.H. Hardy who was astounded by the content of Ramanujan‘s Note books when he posted them from Chennai.
Spottiswoode has directed films like And The Band Played On, Air America and the James Bond film Tomorrow Never Dies. His last feature, The Children of Huang Shi, was a Sino-Australian co-production that filmed in China starring Jonathan Rhys Meyers and Radha Mitchell.
Ramanujan has already been the subject of several books and plays but this project marks the first time his life has been depicted in a feature film. The film will also be used as a platform for social action initiatives in the area of education that are being devised by the team at Cause Entertainment.
The film, now in the pre-production stage, will start rolling in May. While the first schedule will take place in the UK, the star cast and crew will return to India for the second schedule.
Cause Entertainment‘s Vicky Dhir is one of the three principal directors of the fund along with Aditya Mehta and former Sony executive Uday Singh. The fund also has two advisory boards – a creative board including filmmakers such as Anurag Kashyap, Prahlad Khakkar and Aparna Sen, and a corporate board including executives such as Alex Kuruvilla, Sony Entertainment CEO Manjit Singh, Rajat Jain and Bobby Bedi.
Hindi
MIFF 2026 to return to Mumbai; film entries open till April 12
19th edition to host WAVES Doc Bazaar, spotlighting global documentary talent
MUMBAI: The 19th edition of the Mumbai International Film Festival 2026 is set to take place from June 15 to 21 at the NFDC Complex, with film submissions currently open and the deadline fast approaching on April 12.
Organised by the National Film Development Corporation under the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, the biennial festival remains one of South Asia’s most prominent platforms for documentary, short fiction and animation films.
Filmmakers, producers and content creators from across the globe have been invited to submit entries via the Film Freeway platform for the Competition Section. Offline submissions will not be accepted, reinforcing a fully digital entry process.
MIFF 2026 continues to sweeten the deal with a robust awards pool of Rs 55 lakh. The coveted Golden Conch for Best Documentary carries a top prize of Rs 10 lakh, alongside multiple awards across categories, making it one of the most lucrative non-feature film festivals in the region.
A key highlight this year will be the second edition of the WAVES Doc Bazaar, scheduled from June 16 to 18 alongside the festival. Designed as a hub for collaboration, the Doc Bazaar will feature a co-production market, viewing rooms and a work-in-progress lab, bringing together global buyers, sellers and creators under one roof.
Since its inception in 1990, MIFF has built a reputation as a serious showcase for non-feature cinema, drawing participation from filmmakers worldwide. The previous edition saw over 350 films from more than 30 countries, underlining its growing international footprint.
With submissions closing soon and preparations underway, MIFF 2026 is shaping up to be a vibrant meeting point for storytelling, collaboration and cinematic craft, offering filmmakers both a stage and a springboard.
