Our Projects

Taran Tantra Telefilms has produced one full-length feature film, which will have its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival, along with three short films that have travelled to numerous prestigious festivals worldwide, including BFI Flare, New Renaissance Film Festival and San Antonio QFest. We currently have a number of projects in development, production, or post-production, alongside films that have already been released. Below is a snapshot of our current slate and the types of stories we are telling. For more information, please feel free to reach out.

Sabar Bonda (Cactus Pears)

Sabar Bonda (Cactus Pears) is written and directed by Rohan Parashuram Kanawade.

The film has been officially selected and is set to have its world premiere in the ‘World Cinema Dramatic Competition’ category at the Sundance Film Festival, 2025.

The film focusses on the story of Anand, a 30-something city dweller compelled to spend a 10-day mourning period for his father in the rugged countryside of western India, tenderly bonds with a local farmer who is struggling to stay unmarried. As the mourning ends, forcing his return, Anand must decide the fate of his relationship born under duress.

Rohan Parashuram Kanawade, the director of the film, had humble beginnings, raised in a Mumbai slum by a chauffeur father and homemaker mother. He is a self-made filmmaker with a background in interior design and is an alum of the 11th Venice Biennale College Cinema. Sabar Bonda (Cactus Pears) is his debut feature.

The Lime Green Shirt

The Lime Green Shirt is written and directed by Kaushik Ray.

The short film focuses on a story of Saraswati, a lonely widow and Bengali immigrant living in northern England, re-enters her estranged son’s life. When the consequences of her conservative parenting come to light, Saraswati discovers she must set aside her own fears to save their relationship.

The film premiered at the BFI Flare LGBTQIA+ Film Festival in London in March 2024 and is now making its way through a prestigious festival circuit, including: Rio LGBTQ+ Film Festival, Brazil, New Renaissance Film Festival, Amsterdam, Netherlands & London, UK, Gaze LGBTQIA+ Film Festival, Dublin, Ireland, International Kolkata Shorts Film Festival, Kolkata, India, Kolkata Shorts International Film Festival, Kolkata, India, Ayodhya Film Festival, Ayodhya, India, Kashish Pride Film Festival, Mumbai, India, OutSouth Queer Film Festival, Durham, NC, USA, San Antonio QFest LGBT International Film Festival, Texas, USA.

The film won Best LGBTQ+ Short Film at the Ayodhya Film Festival and was nominated for Best LGBTQ+ Short at both the New Renaissance Film Festival in the Netherlands and the UK. Actress Lillette Dubey received the award for Best Character Portrayal at the San Antonio QFest LGBT International Film Festival. Additionally, the film won Best Music at the Kolkata Shorts International Film Festival and at San Antonio QFest.

Kaushik identifies as a QPOC and as a globalist and all his stories have a strong focus on female-led protagonists and explore queerness and contemporary social issues such as corruption, hypocrisy and inequality, but always told with humour or poetry. The Lime Green Shirt is Kaushik’s first film as writer/director.

Muhafiz (The Protector)

Muhafiz (The Protector) is a co-production with Lotus Visual Productions, Bombay Berlin Productions, written by Ashutosh Pathak and Pradipta Ray and directed by Pradipta Ray.

The short film focuses on a story after the 2002 Gujarat riots in India, where two men meet – one from a religious minority and one from a sexual minority – and in spite of their differences, one saves the other at the cost of revealing his sexual identity, and jeopardising his life.

The film premiered at the BFI Flare LGBTQIA+ film festival in London in March 2022 and is moving its way around a prestigious festival circuit.

Pradipta Ray is a transgender filmmaker, painter and animation artist based in Mumbai. Know for her work as the chief visualiser for Bollywood blockbusters such as Rang De Basanti, Heyy Babyy and Kambakht Ishq, Pradipta won the award for Best Emerging Filmmaker at the Kashish-Mumbai International Queer Film Festival 2012 for her first short film Raat Baki.

Gair (Pariah)

Together with co-producers Lotus Visual Productions, SMR Entertainment and Unnati Sethi, Taran Tantra Telefilms is the co-producer of Gair (Pariah), a short film written and directed by Nishant Roy Bombarde focussing on caste discrimination in contemporary Delhi. Pariah premieres at the New York Indian Film Festival in May 2022 before moving on to a number of other festivals, including Kashish - the Mumbai Queer International Film Festival where it will run in competition.

Nishant Roy Bombarde is an award-winning filmmaker and screenwriter with experience as an Executive Producer on commercially successful and critically acclaimed films at Zee Studios. He won an Indian National Film Award winner for Best First Non-Feature Film of a Director for his debut short film, Daaravtha (2015).

A Life A Rose

A Life A Rose is the debut feature film of Kaushik Ray. Fifty years after being forced apart from her childhood sweetheart at a Calcutta convent school, a retired professor heads to Paris, on a mission to track down her former lover and best friend, to see if she remembers their once-forbidden romance.

The film is currently in development and is written in Hindi, Bengali, English and French.

Molly

Molly is the short film written and to be directed by Darius Shu. Molly is a deeply personal story that explores the asexuality spectrum, offering an unflinching exploration of love, intimacy, and connection through a lens rarely seen on screen. With raw vulnerability, it dares to challenge societal norms, normalising conversations around asexuality while celebrating the beauty of relationships that thrive beyond sex.

The film is currently in pre production stage..