Mira Nair is bringing Amrita Sher-Gil’s life and art to the big screen in her new film Amri.
Key Points
- The ensemble cast includes Anjali Sivaraman as Amrita Sher-Gil, Emily Watson as her mother and Jaideep Ahlawat as her father.
- Priyanka Chopra will feature as Madame Azurie and also serve as an executive producer for the film.
Mira Nair’s new film Amri is inspired by the life and art of Amrita Sher-Gil, a pioneer in India’s modern art world.
Notably, the ensemble cast is led by Anjali Sivaraman as Amrita Sher-Gil alongside Emily Watson as her mother, Marie-Antoinette Gottesman, and Jaideep Ahlawat as her father, Umrao Singh Sher-Gil.
The film also stars Krisztian Csakvari as Victor Egan, Anjana Vasan as Indira Sher-Gil, Jim Sarbh as Karl Khandalavala and Priyanka Chopra as Madame Azurie.
Priyanka Chopra also serves as an executive producer on the film.
Mira Nair’s Personal Connection to Sher-Gil’s Art
For Mira Nair, Amri is also a deeply personal film. Sher-Gil’s work has been impactful on the filmmaker’s visual imagination, and the film reflects a connection that is both artistic and profoundly felt.
Talking about Amri, Mira Nair, in a press note, shared, ‘Every film I’ve made in the last several decades has been inspired by the art of Amrita Sher-Gil. She taught me how to see. She absorbed the best European training to distill the soul of India in a way that no one ever had — it is this distillation that has informed my own cinema from the beginning.’
‘The bravery of her palette, color and framing of the ordinary people of India has eternally moved me.’
‘Mira’s craft for telling crosscultural stories is unparalleled’
‘Amrita Sher-Gil’s life and oeuvres reflect the aspirations of the modern generation, where identity and unapologetic self-expression meet,’ says Producer Samudrika Arora. ‘There is something deeply human in the tension of coming from two wildly different worlds — the challenge of belonging to both and never entirely to either.’
‘What moved me to make this film is how Amri carried the best of each world within her and did not lose herself in the space between them. It is a privilege to bring this story to fruition alongside Mira, whose craft for telling crosscultural stories is unparalleled.’
‘While the film is set between the two World Wars,’ Producer Michael Nozik adds, ‘Amrita is a character out of time and before her time — she is a true visionary artist and social revolutionary; her life story is a beacon of inspiration.’
‘With Mira’s direction, Anjali’s performance of Amrita seizes that spirit of youthful curiosity and rebellion.’
Major exhibitions of Amrita Sher-Gil’s work are planned across the world for 2027, starting in Paris, moving to Los Angeles and Doha, and finally ending in New Delhi, where a permanent exhibition is planned.
Photographs curated by Satish Bodas/Rediff
