Nil Battey Sannata

Nil Battey Sannata (2016)

Behind the magnificent Taj Mahal lies a cluster of dingy homes where Chanda (35), a domestic help, lives with her 14-year-old daughter Appu. Chanda aspires and dreams that her daughter will study and embrace a better fate. When Appu tells her she wants to quit school and become a maid like her, Chanda takes a strong decision: she will herself go back to school, and even join the class of her daughter.

Date of release
2016-04-22
TMDB
7.3 / 10 (52)
Runtime
1h 40m
Genres
Drama, Family
Director
Ashwiny Iyer Tiwari

Casting

Interesting facts

Nil Battey Sannata, released internationally as The New Classmate, is a 2015 Indian Hindi-language comedy drama film directed by Ashwiny Iyer Tiwari in her feature debut. Produced by Aanand L. Rai, Ajay Rai, and Alan McAlex under the banners of Colour Yellow Productions and JAR Pictures, the film was co-written by Iyer, Neeraj Singh, Pranjal Choudhary, and Nitesh Tiwari. Swara Bhaskar starred as Chanda Sahay, a high-school drop-out household maid and single mother of a sullen young girl named Apeksha, played by Riya Shukla. The film's theme is a person's right to dream and change their lives, irrespective of social status.

Production

Nil Battey Sannata was directed by Ashwiny Iyer Tiwari in her directorial debut. She conceived the idea for the film while working with Leo Burnett Worldwide, a Chicago-based advertising company, for a Kaun Banega Crorepati promotional video. The screenplay was written by Iyer, Neeraj Singh, Pranjal Choudhary and Nitesh Tiwari.

After going through the script, JAR Pictures' Ajay G. Rai decided to produce the film and insisted on Iyer to direct it as well. Although initially reluctant, Iyer agreed to direct and learnt the major aspects of cinematography as a part of her preparation. Gavemic U Ary worked as the cinematographer for the film, and Kunal Sharma headed the sound department.

Mukesh Chhabra was the film's casting director. Swara Bhaskar was the first to be cast in the role of Chanda Sahay, a single mother of a 15-year-old girl. Initially skeptical about playing a mother on screen early in her career, she changed her mind after reading the script. To understand the role better, Bhaskar stayed with professional domestic helpers from Agra, Uttar Pradesh, where the film is set.

Principal photography for Nil Battey Sannata commenced in May 2014 at Agra and was completed by the end of November. At several locations in Agra, the crew found it difficult to manage an "over-enthusiastic crowd". The editing process began immediately after, and was supervised by Chandrashekhar Prajapati of the Pixon Studios. The editor's cut was submitted for the Work-in-Progress Lab at the NFDC Film Bazaar.

Read on Wikipedia · Text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. Data from Wikidata.

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