Nandita at Cannes to find producers for film

Actor-director Nandita Das visited the just-concluded Cannes Film Festival to look for producers and financiers for her upcoming film on famous Urdu short story writer Saadat Hasan Manto. The actress' earlier visits to the Cannes festival was occasioned by her being on the festival jury twice, but this time it had a purpose.

Known for her roles in films like ‘Fire, Earth and Bawander’, Nandita says she got to watch only two films this time. "But then I had gone there for a purpose and wanted to focus on just that... This time I had to find producers and financiers for my upcoming film on Manto and answer questions that were not always about the creative aspects of the project. After all pitching for a film was a completely new terrain for me," Nandita said.

According to her Manto believed in connections of the mind and heart and didn't give much importance to national identities and boundaries. "So an International film with many different collaborators is totally in the spirit of Manto. In fact that is the reason why I want even a Pakistani producer to come on board.

"They (Pakistan) claim Manto to be their greatest short story writer and we claim he is one of India's best. If we divide Manto like this, it will be against his spirit and therefore I want a shared sense of ownership, if at all one can own him!" she said.