Anjali Sivaraman has been cast in the lead role as pioneering Indian artist Amrita Sher-Gil in Mira Nair’s upcoming biopic Amri. The film brings together an ensemble cast including Priyanka Chopra Jonas, Jaideep Ahlawat, Emily Watson, Anjana Vasan, Jim Sarbh and Krisztián Csákvári in key roles.
The project, long envisioned by Nair, explores Sher-Gil’s life as one of the most influential modern Indian artists, known for her bold, evocative work and her challenge to social and artistic conventions. Sivaraman, known for Class and Bad Girl, will portray the artist during her formative and most defining years.
Priyanka Chopra Jonas also serves as an executive producer on the film and will appear as Madame Azurie, while Jaideep Ahlawat plays Sher-Gil’s father, Umrao Singh Sher-Gil, and Emily Watson portrays her mother, Marie-Antoinette Gottesman. Jim Sarbh features as Karl Khandalavala and Anjana Vasan as Indira Sher-Gil.
Set across Hungary, France and India in the early twentieth century, Amri traces Sher-Gil’s artistic and personal journey, including her European training, her return to India, and her development of a distinctive visual language centred on everyday Indian life, particularly women.
Nair described Sher-Gil as a profound influence on her own filmmaking, praising her ability to blend European artistic techniques with an authentic depiction of Indian life. The film also explores Sher-Gil’s defiance of convention, her relationships, and her search for identity across cultures.
Co-written by Nair and Clara Royer, the film is produced by Samudrika Arora and Michael Nozik, alongside Mirabai Films, Samscape, Papertown Productions, KNMA and Miramax. It is currently in production across India and Hungary.
Sher-Gil, who died at the age of 28, is now regarded as one of the most important women artists of the twentieth century, with works such as Two Women, The Bride’s Toilet and Self-Portrait continuing to be widely celebrated.
The film is expected to coincide with a series of major international exhibitions of Sher-Gil’s work planned for 2027.
(With inputs from PTI)