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2 months ago
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EXCLUSIVE: Deadline can reveal a first look at writer-director Subhadra Mahajan‘s debut feature, Second Chance, which will premiere at the upcoming Karlovy Vary International Film Festival.
The black-and-white film from India will compete in the festival’s Proxima section, which kicks off on June 28. Set in the Pir Panjal range of the state of Himachal Pradesh in northern India, the film follows the story young woman Nia, who after experiencing the first major trauma of her life, retreats to her family home in the Himalayas where time, nature and unlikely friendships help her heal. The caretaker of the house departs on an errand, leaving his mother-in-law Bhemi, 70, in charge along with his son Sunny, 8.
In a statement, Mahajan said that the film is inspired by some of her personal experiences, especially growing up in Himachal Pradesh — although she currently resides in Mumbai. The film features Hindi, English and Kullavi languages.
“Second Chance explores the theme of healing — a wondrous and inexplainable process. It may be a very intimate and internal journey, yet it is a story I feel needs to told to the world that we live in today,” Mahajan said. “An ‘instant’ world of tunnel vision, where a young person can feel the weight of a personal tragedy as something that they may never recover from. A self-obsessed world which has forgotten that the eternal cycle of Mother Earth functions far beyond human control.”
The video opens with Nia rousing from her sleep in her family home, amid the howling wind rolling across the mountain range. She opens a card from the caretaker’s young child, Sunny, wishing her well.
Mahajan casted for her film from the local area where Second Chance is set in, with feature film newcomers Dheera Johnson (as Nia), Thakri Devi (as Bhemi) and Kanav Thakur (as Sunny) in leading roles. Johnson is a former primary school teacher and also a freestyle dancer, currently based in Los Angeles for a full-time Professional Acting Conservatory at the Lee Strasberg Theatre & Film Institute, funded by a Richard Boleslawski Scholarship.
With Second Chance, Mahajan reunites with Pan Nalin, who serves as executive producer, having worked together on projects like Angry Indian Goddesses (2015), which premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival and won the runner up prize for the Grolsch Audience Choice Award. Other films she has worked on with Nalin include Faith Connections (2013), Beyond The Known World (2017) and Last Film Show (2021), which was India’s official Oscars entry.
Second Chance producer Shyam Bora is the co-founder of Metanormal Motion Pictures, which has made feature films like Kothanodi, Aamis and Emuthi Puthi.
