Gitanjali Rao to direct half live-action, half animation feature film

Filmmaker-actor Gitanjali Rao says she is set to direct a part animated, part live-action feature-length film titled "Lost and Found".

Rao, known for her starring role in "October" and directing the acclaimed animated film "Bombay Rose" as well as animated shorts "Orange" and "Printed Rainbow", said the script of "Lost and Found" is ready.

"It's called 'Lost and Found'. It's an Indian-French co-production, I have a French producer already and I have an Indian producer... This film of mine which I have been scripting over the last three years and I was here last year in the co-production market, it's a feature-length animation film, half live-action, half animation," she told PTI in an interview.

Rao was speaking on the sidelines of Film Bazaar 2024, which was held parallelly along with the International Film Festival of India (IFFI) in Goa.

The actor-filmmaker, who studied commercial art from Mumbai's JJ College of Art and did theatre with stage veteran Satyadev Dubey, said she felt "isolated" after working in animation for a long period of time.

And, that's why she wanted to work with actors and cinematographers on set, she added.

"The story evolved in a way that it's real and the protagonist goes into a painting and that's where my animation starts and he comes back. So, I have a balance between the two (animation and live action). it's in the financing stage... The moment the financing comes in within two years the film should be done, should be out," she said, adding a veteran actor is in the talks to star in "Lost and Found".

Rao further spoke about how director Shoojit Sircar remembered her performance in a stage play from years ago and then cast her in the 2018 meditative drama "October".

"Shoojit said 'There is this role for you. Will you do this?' So, there are times where everything comes together and you are a fool to say no. I did 'October' and I pursued my film. ('Bombay Rose') took much longer to finish and by that time everybody knew me as the 'October' actress. Also, I did it to support my bread and butter... It's difficult to finance (a film after) years and years of scriptwriting development.

"So I was doing acting, not as a career prospect, but as interesting projects (were coming my way) and it was giving me some amount of money. I worked with Aparna Sen because I love her as a director... I figured out through acting I can work with other directors and understand how they work and I use a lot of acting in my animation films. So whatever I learnt as acting is actually both as an actor and in animation," said the director.