Written and directed by Mragendra Singh, There’s no Other Way To Do This boasts a cast of Aishwarya Sonar, accompanied by the voice of Mariyam Mae Thomas and Shray Rai Tiwari and is produced by Lambe Log Productions. Its selection at the 22nd New York Indian Film Festival is an honour since the festival has supported so many great Indian filmmakers, talent and stories since its inception in 2001.
Festival bio- The New York Indian Film Festival is North America’s oldest and most prestigious film festival which features cinema from India, and the Indian Diaspora and takes place in New York. Over the past years, their selection has showcased a wide range of South Asian film-makers such as Shyam Benegal, Mira Nair, Aparna Sen, Deepa Mehta, Mani Ratnam, Anurag Kashyap, and the late Rituparno Ghosh. The festival began in November 2001 and was founded by Aroon Shivdasani and the Indo- American Arts Council. NYIFF’s festival director, Aseem Chabbra, is a celebrated writer who has written biographies of the late Irrfan Khan, Priyanka Chopra, Shashi Kapoor while also writing about art, politics and entertainment.
Aishwarya Sonar, the co-founder of Lambe Log Productions and the actor of this short could not have asked for a better world premiere to showcase this intimate story of ‘Sanchi’ and be able to portray her internal struggle to break out of a toxic marriage. Aishwarya has previously acted in Priyanka Chopra’s production , Kaay Re Rascalaa in the role of Preeti. She is also seen in Nitishastra, with Taapsee Pannu directed by Kapil Verma. Aishwarya is currently based between Mumbai and Los Angeles. www.lambelog.com
Talking about the selection, Mragendra Singh, who’s feature film ‘normal’ will soon release globally, says “this film comes straight from my heart and resonates with the state of being stuck that I was going through at the time I wrote it. It’s a reflection of how we choose not to do what is right for us because of the comfort of familiarity. The prestigious NYIFF has given a platform to unique south-asian voices and I feel immensely grateful to share the spotlight with this year’s talented & visionary filmmakers.“
Bio- Mragendra’s first feature film “normal.” (https://www.normal-thefilm.com/) premiered at the Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival and was acquired by Buffalo 8 for distribution. His other two screenplays had been shortlisted for Sundance Screenwriters lab and his short film “The Night Before” after successfully finishing the festival run got acquired by Cineshorts and amassed more than 200K views.
The vision of the film was accomplished by Abhijit Roy’s photography, Sumit Parnami’s editing skills, Shubahm Bahamre’s sound design and Abhishek Ghag’s music.
There’s no Other Way To Do This will be available to stream on the festival channel between May 7th and 13th, 2022 here – https://online.nyiff.us/film/there-is-no-other-way-to-do-this/