trailer

Filmmaker’s Intent

Soulmates is inspired by the horrific 2012 Delhi Gang Rape Case. The film explores the Indian patriarchal society, which has normalized violence against women. At its core, the film delves into the journey of relationships, which are constantly impacted by misogynist values in the name of culture, rituals and/or beliefs.

I chose my narrative to take place in the city of Delhi, where growing up I constantly witnessed a predominant culture of holding women responsible for any mishap or misfortune. Any time a crime against women would take place, a common sentiment echoed in the media, the government and the society that blamed the victim, without any consequences for the perpetrator.

On the other end of the spectrum, even in day-to-day activities, the women are constantly reminded of being the ‘second-sex’, where there duty is to fulfil the wishes of men by sacrificing their own needs. Growing up in Delhi, I always witnessed women of any age group – mother, grandmother, sister – could not wear any clothes that they felt comfortable in, without any judgement being passed about their morality, and/or any unwanted attention being brought towards their bodies.

I want to break this vicious wheel of patriarchal values that are passed on in the name of culture and tradition, and rather become an advocate of equality through my art and filmmaking, hence, Soulmates was born.

The filmmaker

Manya Gadhok is an award-winning filmmaker based in New York. Born and raised in New Delhi, Manya always believed films have the power to change the way one perceives the world around them. Driven by the urge to lead people to new perspectives, she came to the United States to attend the Graduate Film Program at Syracuse University, where her work was recognized and rewarded via multiple grants throughout the years – Bryan Buckley Award Grant, Creative Opportunity Grant.

Her first short film titled Soulmates has received praise from her peers and mentors in the filmmaking world. The short film has been accepted to every Film Festival that it has applied to, along with winning awards at Tagore International Film Festival, and Salt City Film Festival. 

The Cast

Jatin Sarna

Jatin Sarna is a versatile actor and has won MTV’s IWM Most Popular Supporting Actor in a Web Series for his role in Sacred Games. He grew up in Delhi, where he attended Shri Ram Centre for Performing Arts and performed in various theatrical shows like Gangster Samiti and Spartacus. He has professional experience of more than 13 years as an actor, and he has acted in numerous television series as well as Bollywood films, one of the recent ones is Kabir Khan’s upcoming movie ’83.

Shruti Bapna

Shruti Bapna is an Indian actor born in Rajasthan but raised in Nigeria (Africa). She completed her higher studies from Podar College in Mumbai but her interest in performing theatre art allowed her to work with renowned theatre directors like Sunil Shanbag and Satyadev Dubey. With a professional experience of more than 11 years, she has worked in numerous television and web-series as well as worked in more than 8 Bollywood films.

The Team

Arjun Kukreti

Director of Photography

Pranit Purao

Sound Design & Mix

Sumit Kumar

Visual Effects

Tusshar Mallek

Music and Background Score

Swati Singh

Chief Assistant Director

Drishti Mirchandani

Make-Up & Hair

Neven Udovicic

Movie Poster

Cody Courmier

Typography & Motion Graphics

Kiara Kapoor

Casting Director

Aveek Mitra

Costume

Manendra Singh Lodhi

Editor

Nipun Grover

Dialogue

CAST

Alka Arora as Aunty

CAST

Kunal Singh as Sub-Inspector

CAST

Uma Shankar as Inspector

LINE PRODUCER

Sahil Singh

ASSOCIATE EXECUTIVE PRODUCER

Kiara Kapoor

ASSOCIATE EXECUTIVE PRODUCER

Nisha Sejwal

UNIT PRODUCTION MANAGER

Prashant Pandey

UNIT PRODUCTION MANAGER

Bhupender Singh

PRODUCTION MANAGER

Sanchit Singh

PRODUCTION MANAGER

Ankit Chauhan

PRODUCTION MANAGER

Rajat Beniwal

CHIEF ASSISTANT DIRECTOR

Swati Singh

SECOND ASSISTANT DIRECTOR

Abhinav Joshi

THIRD ASSISTANT DIRECTOR

Sarthak Kamboj

ART ASSISTANT

Ankit Chauhan

ART ASSISTANT

Irshaad Khan

FIRST ASSISTANT CAMERA

Hitendra Mishra

FOCUS PULLER

Biplab Kumar Das

CAMERA ATTENDANT

Vivek Kumar Tripathi

CAMERA ATTENDANT

Sahil Majithia

CAMERA ATTENDANT

Tarun Sardar

GAFFER

Vidya Sagar

ELECTRICIAN

Pramod Pandey

SPOT PERSON

Adil Khan and Team

LIGHT PERSON

Raju Bhai

LIGHT PERSON

Manoj Sudama Pandeyr

LIGHT PERSON

Pritam

LIGHT PERSON

Ankit Tiwari

LIGHT PERSON

Ramkripal

CRANE OPERATOR

Sanjay Chacha

CRANE OPERATOR

Pradeep Kumar

CRANE OPERATOR

Shyam Chandra Mishra

CRANE OPERATOR

Vinod Yadav

CASTING ASSISTANT (MUMBAI)

Nitish Saluja

CASTING ASSISTANT (MUMBAI)

Sunny Yadav

PRODUCTION SOUND

Sappan Das

COSTUME ASSISTANT

Poorva Johri

BOUNCER

Kahlil and Team

FOLEY RECORDING ENGINEER

Arun Pandian

JUNIOR COORDINATOR (DELHI)

Sanjeev Gulati

MAKE-UP AND HAIR ASSISTANT

Nupur Gupta

TRANSCODING TECHNICIAN

Rishab Malhotra

DIT

Vicky

ASSOCIATE EXECUTIVE PRODUCER

ROTO-PREPR

ASSOCIATE EXECUTIVE PRODUCER

Vaishali Awaghade

VISUAL EFFECTS TEXTURING

Raj Gedam

VISUAL EFFECTS MATCH MOVE

Md. Qasim

VISUAL EFFECTS PRODUCTION MANAGER

Deepali Awaghade

DI COLORIST

Avinash Shukla

SOUND-EFFECTS EDITOR

Adit Khanzode

AUDIO POST-PRODUCTION SERVICE

Acoustry Private Limited

5.1 MIX STUDIO

Shoralag

FOLEY ARTIST

Kannan Sreenivasan

FOLEY RECORDING ENGINEER

Arun Pandian

FOLEY EDITOR

Sony james

FOLEY STUDIO

Mercury Studios Chennai

SUBTITLE

Annapurna Basu

VTT

Prabuddha Ghosh

LIGHTING VENDOR

True Light

CAMERA RENTAL

Java Motion Pictures

VANITY AND GENSET VENDOR

Ayan Generators

CATERING SERVICES

Rich Food

WALKIE TALKIE SERVICES

J.K. Kapoors

TENT VENDOR

Ashok Tent Service

LAWYER

Rushabh Mehta