8 writers chosen for Mumbai Mantra-Sundance Screenwriters Lab

Mumbai Mantra, Mahindra Group's media and entertainment division, in collaboration with Sundance Institute, has selected eight Indian screen writers for the third annual Mumbai Mantra-Sundance Institute Screenwriters Lab.
This year's screenwriting fellows selected are Navneet Behal ('Experiments with Truth'), Ashvin Kumar ('Noor'), Bornila Chatterjee ('Nuclear Hearts'), Gaurav Madan ('Shaktipur Crude'), Deepanjali Sarkar ('Svadharma'), Dylan Gray ('The Last Day of Winter'), Sanjay Talreja ('The River Murder'), and Neeraj Ghaywan and Varun Grover ('UdJayega').
The announcement was made today at a press conference held here.
They will have the opportunity to work intensely on their feature film scripts in an environment that encourages innovation and creative risk-taking, with the support of a distinguished group of established screenwriters and directors serving as creative advisors.

The creative advisors include Naomi Foner ('Running on Empty'), Michael Handelman ('Night at the Muesem'), Dante Harper ('The Delicate Art of Rifle'), James Hart ('August Rush', 'Dracula'), Malia Marmo ('Madeline'), Anjum Rajabali ('The Legend of Bhagat Singh'), Elena Soarez ('City of Men'), Rose Taroche ('Safety of Objects') and Sooni Taraporevala ('Salaam Bombay').
Several film personalities attended the event including Anil Kapoor, Sharmila Tagore, Irrfan Khan, Rahul Bose, Tisca Chopra, Kunal Kapoor, Siddharath Basu, Meeta Vashishtha, Sanjay Suri, Onir, Swara Bhaskar, Sushma Reddy, Sridhar Raghavan, Tanuja Chandra, Sidharath Kak and others.
"We are at an exciting storytelling stage for independent cinema in India. With the help of our partner, Sundance Institute we are keen to recognise, nurture and hone talent in India and across the world," Mumbai Mantra chairman Rohit Khattar said.

Mumbai Mantra received over 500 applications for the lab from Indian screenwriters across the globe. The nomination committee members for the Indian fellows include Anjum Rajabali, Boman Irani, Ira Bhaskar, K Hariharan, Raju Hirani, Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra and Sharmila Tagore.