Two worlds collide in Rohena Gera's Sir

Debutante Rohena Gera's "Sir", India's second film on the Croisette this year seems poised to make international inroads.

The film, which premiered here in the parallel Cannes Critics' Week the section where Ritesh Batra's "The Lunchbox" began its global journey earned instant accolades for its restrained, heartfelt storytelling.

Set in Mumbai, the austere, understated film probes a relationship between the scion of a real-estate family and a live-in maid who cooks and cleans for him.

"It isn't an arthouse film. It is essentially a feel-good story. So I was surprised when the film made it to Cannes," said the director who made "What's Love Got to Do With It", a 2013 documentary on arranged marriage.

"Sir" leads are played by Vivek Gomber (Court) and Tillotama Shome (Qissa), with Geetanjali Kulkarni and Rahul Vohra in supporting roles. Leading French sales agent mk2 is on board and the film is slated for release in France in December.

Says Gera: "We will be handling the India release ourselves. I want a strong distribution for the film, not an under-the-radar release that comes and goes unnoticed."
"We do not see such characters in our films because we refuse to see them in real life too. They are invisible."
"These people do not always see themselves as victims. They hand on to hope and dignity. That is what I sought to bring out."
Gomber, playing an aspiring writer who has returned from the US and has had a messy break-up, is, in Gera's words, "a man trapped in a gilded cage". She adds: "The notion that privilege equals happiness is a mistaken one."