Locarno Winner Raam Reddy Lines Up Gen-Z Mumbai Drama ‘Lavender Fire’ as Next Feature (EXCLUSIVE)

Indian filmmaker Raam Reddy is moving ahead with his third feature, “Lavender Fire”, a pared-down coming-of-age drama set in Mumbai’s modelling and influencer scene. The project follows Reddy’s Berlin 2024 title “Jugnuma: The Fable” and his Locarno-winning debut “Thithi” (2015).

After the large-scale worldbuilding of “The Fable” which was adapted from a 300-page visual concept and featured 600 VFX shots, Reddy says he was ready to reset. “It was everything I dreamed of, but the process was rigorous that I wanted to return to something more spontaneous,” he tells Variety at the WAVES Film Bazaar, the market component of the International Film Festival of India (IFFI), Goa.

“Lavender Fire” centres on three Gen Z siblings whose lives converge in Mumbai. Reddy has cast three newcomers from the fashion and creator space. Their story plays out against career pressure, viral visibility and shifting social codes, with a narrative “clock” adding urgency.

Reddy is returning to the method he used on “Thithi,” casting first and writing with the performers. He is developing the film with photographer Mourya Dandu and long-time collaborator Ere Gowda.

Positioned as an accessible, non-judgmental look at Gen Z urban culture, the filmmaker sees the project as both locally grounded and globally marketable. “As a millennial, it’s fascinating for me to look at Gen Z culture. The closer I got to it, I realized that the in-the-moment-ness of it is very exciting in its own way. It makes me want to take life a little less seriously. I hope that Gen Z kids have a film that they can call their own and we can introduce that culture non-judgmentally to non-Gen Z people,” says Reddy whose approach will be light, contemporary and rooted in lived-in sibling dynamics, steering away from the heavy craft demands of his previous feature.

Reddy plans to shoot in January under his banner Prspctvs Productions and says he is “open to collaborations with financiers and international producing partners.”

“I don’t want to be boxed in,” Reddy says of his filmmaking graph. “This one is about instinct and immediacy. After this, I’m ready to scale up again, if the right project calls for it.”