NFDC Labs, the Training and Development arm of NFDC (The National Film Development Corporation Ltd), announced the six finalists of the NFDC – Harlequin Romance Screenwriters’ Lab. The first of its kind three-part Lab with romance and women-centric plots as the themes, organized and spearheaded by NFDC, has well known writers / directors, Habib Faisal and Bhavani Iyer and popular authors, Ashok Banker and Shoma Narayanan for the parallely held Harlequin Lab, as mentors. Post the Lab, Harlequin will offer book deals to the most promising writers.

The final six scripts / writers are:

 Anjuna Beats (English) by Thomas Jacob– A writer / director and having worked on one feature film, one short film, 3D shorts, corporate films and documentaries, Thomas was one of the young filmmakers invited for the prestigious Berlinale Talent Campus 2010 conducted by the Berlin International Film Festival (2010).

Love in the Time of Moral Policing (English – Hindi – Marathi) by Niharika Negi – Niharika has an interesting mix of experience in Film and Theatre- India and London, with stints at Shree Ashtavinayak Cine Vision Limited, FutureWorks, Channel [V], Big Boy Productions (London), The Hat Factory Arts Center (London), Poor Box Productions, QTP’s Thespo amongst others.

 Magic for Maria (Hindi – English) by Annie Zaidi – Annie has been writing across various genres and has directed short films and plays. She has contributed to various newspapers and magazines including Mid-Day, Frontline, Tehelka, Caravan, Mint, Elle, Femina, and DNA (Daily News and Analysis).

Vanmala (English) by Abhimanyu Kulkarni – Abhimanyu is a design professional at an MNC and is passionate about writing. His interest in screenplay writing has led him to do a professional course from UCLA followed by two commissioned projects.

 A Second Life (English) by Pravina Srivastava –A media professional in the past, now based in Pondicherry, Pravina is an aspiring writer with A Second Life as her first attempt in screenplay writing.

The Falcon Hunter (English) by Vineet Gupta –Vineet is a Consulting Analyst with a strong academic background. A graduate from Harvard University, Vineet has done his PHD in Mathematics from California Institute of Technology and other programs from leading international universities like Cambridge and Stanford. The Falcon Hunter will be Vineet’s first project as a scriptwriter.

 The three part Lab will include 2 residential programs, the schedule being: First part at a hotel in Pune-27 – 31 July 2014; Second part – offline program conducted as per schedule mutually decided between the mentors and the writers; Third and the final part – 16 – 20 November 2014 at Film Bazaar in Goa.

Held every year in November alongside IFFI in Goa, NFDC’s Film Bazaar- South Asia’s Global Film Market in Goa, the biggest co-production and distribution market for the entire South Asian region, will be in its eigth edition scheduled from 20- 24 Nov 2014. With a modest beginning of 204 delegates from 18 countries in 2007, Film Bazaar saw 831 delegates from 33 participating countries in 2013, witnessing a growing attendance of mainstream and influential global film fraternity.