Richa Chadha, Ali Fazal to produce six films via their production banner

Mumbai:  Following the Sundance success of their maiden production venture, "Girls Will Be Girls", actors Richa Chadha and Ali Fazal have announced a slate of five more films that they will back via their production house Pushing Buttons Studios.

The slate includes an adult animated project, a comedy, a satire, a documentary, and a fantasy drama film. Directed by Shuchi Talati, "Girls Will Be Girls", a coming-of-age story of a teenager and her young mother, earned rave reviews at the international film festival in January this year. A collaborative effort between Pushing Buttons Studios, Crawling Angels, Blink Digital, and Dolce Vita Films, the film won the Audience Choice for Best Film and the Jury Award for Best Actor for lead star Preeti Panigrahi at the festival.

The actor-couple is also producing the crime thriller "Papita'. Directed by Akash Bhatia, the film revolves around a Mumbai paparazzi photographer who aspires to become respected in his profession.

"Doggie Stylez", an adult animation project, directed by Ashutosh Pathak, is a tongue-in-cheek satire on modern humans, told through the lens of a society of dogs imitating human values, and failing, while the musical comedy "Pinky Promise" is set in a Himachal Pradesh hillock-town and revolves around the forbidden love story between a 'spirited' dancer and the singer from a rival Bhajan-Mandli.

The documentary film "RiAlity", to be directed by Rahul Singh Datta, will delve into Chadha and Fazal's lives when they were planning their whirlwind wedding while juggling demanding jobs and tricky relationships in 2022.

The sixth film from their production venture, the fantasy drama "Miss Palmolive All Night Cabaret", is by noted filmmaker Kamal Swaroop, known for films such as "Om-Dar-Ba-Dar", the documentary film "Battle For Benaras" and "Pushkar Puran".

As per the film's plotline, a revolutionary celibate daku, Bhavani Singh, and a cabaret dancer, Miss Palmolive, embark on a platonic musical journey through the fantastical world of Cinemata, where the government discovers that only a kiss can defeat him. "We are driven by a passion for storytelling and a commitment to bring fresh, diverse narratives to the forefront. The success of 'Girls Will Be Girls' at Sundance has fueled our determination to continue pushing creative boundaries," Chadha said in a statement.

"Pushing Buttons Studios is not just a production house; it's a platform for artists to collaborate, experiment, and create memorable experiences for audiences. We are excited about the diverse range of projects in our pipeline," Fazal added.