Bringing more inclusivity in art with Pride Month being celebrated, the film Lailaa Manju has been creating waves all across with its queer-made, crowdfunded tender tale of love. Director Kamya N and Executive Producer, Production Designer Samarth Khanna are elated by the response they have received in Delhi as well at Indian Habitat Centre, followed by their screening earlier this month in Mumbai at the coveted the KASHISH Mumbai International Queer Film Festival.
Being showcased as part of Kriti Film Club’s celebratory festival, Lailaa Manju was aimed to the reach the audience as Pan Indian Cinema.
Lailaa Manju is a film about a daughter coming out to her mother, set in a pandemic-fuelled Mumbai. It is a coming-out story of the times we were living in. An emotionally riveting, 60-minute mini-feature film about the universal coming out conundrum and how it’s different for the Indian queer.
Director Kamya shares, “We’ve screened in Mumbai and Delhi before, but we’re thrilled with the strength of response in Kashish MQIFF and Kriti Film Club. We’ve found ourselves surrounded by love, gratitude and compassion. Thank you for the faith you’ve had in us. We hope we can share our film with you again. Many members of the audience and the fraternity have been asking us if the film will come to any OTT platforms and, we hope to connect with them as well after this phenomenal run. Woman, queer and OTT— can sometimes be considered challenging material even today, which we are trying to normalise with our efforts!”
Samarth Khanna (he/they), a queer filmmaker and passionate advocate of using cinema as a tool for community healing, recently experienced a significant milestone in their career as their latest film, “Lailaa Manju,” was screened at the prestigious India Habitat Centre in New Delhi.
Following the screening, Samarth Khanna, remarked that out of all the responses they received afterwards, there was a standout message from a member of the community who shared that the experience mirrored their own — of being stuck in a queerphobic household. Khanna shares, “They recounted how “Lailaa Manju” had a profound healing effect on them. The film resonated deeply, providing solace and hope in a challenging environment. The audience’s response at IHC serves as a testament to the power of storytelling and the potential for cinema to foster understanding and empathy. Laughter, tears, and a shared sense of queer euphoria permeated the theatre, transcending individual experiences and uniting the crowd as a kommune—a community bound by a common purpose and shared emotions.”
For Samarth, Executive Producer and Production Designer of Lailaa Manju, this collective reaction further reinforces Samarth Khanna’s unwavering motivation to continue creating stories that touch hearts, provoke conversations, and facilitate healing.
Available in Marathi, Hindi and English, Lailaa Manju starring Sangeet Natak Akademi award-winning actor Suhas Joshi, Shilpa Tulaskar (Tula Pahate Re), Sagar Deshmukh (Piya Behrupiya), Tanvi Lehr Sonigra, Mansi S Puggal. Directed by Kamya N with Samarth Khanna as Executive Producer,
DOP Archana Ghangrekar (Masaan, Bahadaai Do) and Editor, Niraj Voralia (Shwaas, Vihir)— Lailaa Manju has promising and seasoned talent on board and hopes to find takers, on a winning spree of love and appreciation.
