Vishal Bhardwaj, Shaunak Sen to Mentor Co-Production Film Fund; Imran Khan, Arati Kadav Join Jury

Academy Award-nominated filmmaker Shaunak Sen (All That Breathes) and acclaimed auteur Vishal Bhardwaj have come on board as mentors for a feature film co-production fund—of ₹40,00,000—designed to back an emerging filmmaker with a distinct voice.

The development fund, launched by Humans of Cinema and Safarnaama Pictures, also features a high-profile jury including actor Imran Khan, filmmaker Arati Kadav (Cargo, Mrs), producer Aman Mann (All That Breathes), and renowned author and festival director Aseem Chhabra. Sen is also attached to the selected project as an Executive Producer.

Harshit Bansal, Founder of Humans of Cinema, shared that the idea took shape when Nazim Momin of Safarnaama Pictures—a US-based engineer and producer—reached out via Instagram with a shared vision to back independent Indian cinema.

Together, they aim to support a film that is festival-ready and engaging for local audiences.

Commenting on the initiative, Bhardwaj said, “Independent cinema survives because some people choose to believe in voices before the world discovers them. Happy to support an initiative that hopes to find and nurture the next fearless generation of filmmakers from India.”

Sen, who will Executive Produce the chosen script, added that he is thrilled to associate with a filmmaker-forward seed fund as "avenues for independent cinema today are rapidly wilting."

The jury also expressed a collective urgency for such a platform, with Khan stating that initiatives to "discover and nurture the next generation of filmmaking talent are sorely needed."

Calling the co-production fund a “logical next step”, Kadav said, “I hope this goes from strength to strength in the coming years, where we will see many brilliant and radical voices finding support in this ecosystem.”

While Chhabra added that such endeavors are "essential if we want to take Indian cinema to the next level in the global market.”

Bansal said their intention is to find the next distinct filmmaking voice from the country, and offer them the financial, production and industry support they need to "not just make their films, but also to help them find the right festival & distribution support."

"We feel fortunate that Shaunak Sen & Vishal Bhardwaj have joined our initiative as mentors, with Shaunak also being attached to the selected project as an Executive Producer. Their support & insights will be invaluable for the selected filmmaker as well as us. We’re also grateful to Shaunak’s production company Kiterabbit Films for offering us crucial support for this initiative, and to our jury members who are lending their expertise out of their sheer goodwill and a passion to support good cinema,” he added.

The fund is open to all Indian citizens aged 18 and above who have directed at least two short films or one feature film.