Bhavna Talwar to direct Pankaj Kapoor again

Mumbai, March 8 (IANS) Young filmmaker Bhavna Talwar has embarked on her second directorial venture after 'Dharam', the stunning chronicle of a priest's journey from ritualism to reality that was feted in the international festival circuits.

Bhavna said her second movie is based on a story by Pankaj Kapoor.

Speaking about the controversies surrounding 'Dharam' and its rejection at the Oscars, Bhavna said, 'I'm very calm. The whole experience (of fighting against Vidhu Vinod Chopra's 'Eklavya' being sent to the Oscars instead of 'Dharam') has made me realise that 'Dharam' is a film with a very long shelf-life.'

Bhavna's new movie 'Awasthi' is a comedy. 'It's completely different from 'Dharam'. It is a Chaplinesque comedy and will make a comment on the city of Mumbai. So little space, so many people in your face, and yet such loneliness!'

But there are so many films being made on the spirit of Mumbai.

'But my film won't be about the city, it's about individual isolation. When I go abroad to US and UK, I see people so lonely and depressed that they undergo therapy to hold on to sanity. It is the same in Mumbai. I don't get to meet my sister who lives in Mumbai more than once a month. Why don't we have the time to connect to people? Isolation has become an epidemic.'

Bhavna is excited about working with Pankaj again. 'I'm dying to get back behind the camera,' she said.