Sudhir Mishra teams up with Shiny and Vid

Filmmaker Sudhir Mishra, who has whipped up a bit of a storm here by suggesting that there should be a "use-by" date attached to all Indian directors, has announced his next film, "Bohot Nikle Mere Armaan", with Shiny Ahuja and Vidya Balan.

Mishra's last film, "Hazaaron Khwaishein Aisi" (a title that is, incidentally, borrowed from a Mirza Ghalib poem that also has the line, 'Bohot nikle mere armaan'), was set in a politically volatile 1970s Delhi.

The plot of his next film will play out against the backdrop of the Mumbai movie industry in the early-post Independence years.

Talking about the cast, Mishra says during an informal chat, "I am also keen to get Naseeruddin Shah to play one of the other key roles."

Set in the 1950s, "Bohot..." will revolve around three characters - an idealistic filmmaker who finds it difficult to make the kind of films he wants to, an actress who is always in the gossip columns and a male movie star caught between the two.

"I have been in the Mumbai film industry for years and have heard numerous stories about the shenanigans of its denizens," says Mishra.

"The film will string together some of these anecdotes that have been narrated to me by various people over the years."

Being a Sudhir Mishra film, "Bohot..." will have a political core to it, but unlike "Hazaaron..." it will not be particularly overt.

"The film will explore the dramatic changes that swept over the many committed writers and other thinking people who arrived in Mumbai from Uttar Pradesh and got sucked into the film industry's entrails," he says.

The scripting process is still on and the film is expected to roll some time early next year.

Mishra is at the Goa film festival to participate in a Master Class session (a concept introduced for the first time this year) as a privileged commentator on a talk to be delivered by renowned and successful British producer Simon Relph. The topic of discussion: "Producing a Dream: The Art of Creative Production".

Mishra will also be one of the speakers in a round table conference on the possibility of stepping up Indo-French cooperation in the field of film production. Several high profile French industry personalities and festival organisers will be on the panel of speakers.