The second edition of The Romance Screenwriter’s Lab hosted by NDFC happening this year includes projects with varied perspectives on the themes of love and romance. The NDFC India Romance Screenwriter’s Lab is part of NFDC Labs to develop original voices and stories from India.

The work put across by the selected participants will be mentored by the industry’s breath taking talents such as Juhi Chaturvedi (Piku, Vicky Donor), Sharat Kataria, (Dum Laga Ke Haisha, Titli) and Habib Faisal ( Fan, Do Dooni Chaar).

The following are the six scripts finalised by the National Film Development Corporation for The Romance Screenwriter’s Lab 2015.

– Chitrangada: Body, Speech and Mind  by Abhyuday Khaitan

– Fly Me to the Moon by Vivek Raju

– Matsyagandha by Pooja Gupta

– Tatevik by Samimitra Das

– The List by Varun Oberoi

– You’ve Been Pinged by Smita Kapoor Das

Abhyuday Khaitan, a writer, director and cinematographer has been making short films as a child. His short films include Untitled, which was screened at Digital Talkies International Film Festival in Delhi (2011) and at Cine Nova, Brussels, Endoscopy, a one minute film which was selected for screening at the European Media Arts Festival, Germany and The Shop That Sold Everything co-written by him, won the Gold Award for Best Short Fiction at the Indian Documentary Producers Association Awards. He has also shot two feature films as a cinematographer,The Luckiest Girl on the Lower East Side and Guru (Hungary/India). 

Vivek Raju, dropped out of engineering school to get into cinematic storytelling. This self taught film maker has shot and directed a documentary for the Defence Research and Development Organization. After working in various capacities for feature films and documentaries, he shot his first screenplay Big Bad Wolf, an ongoing Tamil film.

Pooja Gupta, a young writer who holds Masters Degree in Communication from the University of Pune and a diploma in cinematography. As a screenwriter, her first feature would be Matsyagandha. 

Samimitra Das who was trained at the Satyajit Ray Film & Television Institute, worked as an assistant director on Lootera and an associate director on the Bengali film, Buno Haansh. Das has also written and directed short films and documentaries such as Between the Rains, My Armenian Neighbourhood and Yari Road which have been screen at various Indian film festivals.

Varun Oberoi who worked as a mechanical engineer at the Service Head at Orion Motors Pvt. Ltd. to pursue his passion for cinema, he worked as a screenwriter for the film, The List.

With 15 years of experience in the film and television industry, Smita Kapoor Das, apart from assisting on TV shows, commercials and feature films, she has written and directed a number of non-fiction television shows. She has also donned the director’s cap for four short films that have been screened at Indian film festivals.