Exclusive | Anuparna Roy Returns to Venice With Second Feature ‘Lovers in the Blue Night’ in Orizzonti: ‘Humbling and Deeply Emotional’

A year after making history as the first Indian filmmaker to win the Best Director Award in the Orizzonti section at the 82nd Venice International Film Festival for her debut feature Songs of Forgotten Trees, filmmaker Anuparna Roy is returning to the Lido with her second feature, Lovers in the Blue Night.

Selected for the Orizzonti Competition at the upcoming 83rd edition, Roy becomes one of the very few Indian filmmakers to have two consecutive features premiere in competition at Venice, which marks a major milestone for independent Indian cinema.

Set against Mumbai's restless nights, Lovers In The Blue Night follows four migrants—a closeted husband, his lonely wife who works in a bar, a small-time thief and a pimp—whose lives intersect through unexpected love, survival and forbidden desire.

Told in Hindi with Sylheti, Bengali and Marathi, the film explores longing, migration, identity and the search for belonging in a city that leaves little room for vulnerability. The film features an ensemble cast including Neelima Sharma, Pritam Pilania, Bhushan Shimpi, Jatin Sarin, Kajal Keshav, and Vinod Suryavanshi.

Expressing her gratitude over the selection, Roy said, "Returning to the Orizzonti Competition, after Songs of Forgotten Trees last year, is both humbling and deeply emotional. I'm deeply thankful to the Venice programming team for believing in our film, and to our producers, Sharib Khan and Vikas Kumar at Khan & Kumar Media, who have stood by my vision with unwavering trust across both films."

The filmmaker added that the recognition belongs to the entire team who poured their hearts into the film, and hoped "it encourages more honest, fearless, and deeply human stories to find their audience."

Lovers in the Blue Night is produced by Vikas Kumar (Aarya, Kaala Paani), Sharib Khan, Bibhanshu Rai, and Romil Modi—who previously backed Songs of Forgotten Trees. The film is executive produced by Neeraj Churi (Sabar Bonda) and co-produced by Navin Shetty. Lovers in the Blue Night is produced by Khan & Kumar Media in association with Ammi Media.

Vikas Kumar, one of the lead producers and co-founder of production company Khan & Kumar Media, said the team has always belived that powerful stories deserve to travel beyond borders and seeing Lovers in the Blue Night invited to the Orizzonti Competition at Venice is an "incredibly humbling moment" for the crew.

"Anuparna Roy is one of the most distinctive filmmaking voices of her generation, and we're honoured to continue this creative journey with her. For an independent filmmaker to return to Venice with a second consecutive feature is an extraordinary achievement, and we couldn't be more thrilled to support Anuparna's journey," Kumar added.

The feature is lensed by cinematographer Debjit Samanta, with Ketul Thakkar attached as editor and Nishant Ramtake composing the original score. Rounding out the technical team are production designer Karan Gupta, costume designer Muskan Mittal, makeup artist Bashir Shaikh, and Arka Dey handling sound recording, design, and mixing.