Venice Prizewinner Aditya Vikram Sengupta Explores Class Dynamics in Mumbai-Set ‘The Employer’ – Film Bazaar

variety.com:

Naman Ramachandran Venice Fedeora award winner Aditya Vikram Sengupta (“Labour of Love”) brings his new Hindi-language project “The Employer” to India’s Film Bazaar co-production market.

The film follows Michael, a recently widowed chauffeur in Mumbai working for a veteran actress with political aspirations, whose life becomes entangled in both a missing diamond earring case and his maid’s personal crisis.

Sengupta’s previous films include “Labour of Love,” which won the Fedeora award for Best Debut Film at Venice, “Jonaki,” which premiered at Rotterdam, and “Once Upon a Time in Calcutta,” which debuted at Venice in 2021.

Sengupta drew inspiration from his own experiences in Mumbai. “I’ve been fascinated by the warmth of the people and this constant ambition and drive that people have,” Sengupta told Variety. “Everyone’s helping each other to move up in life.” The director recounts how a real incident with his domestic worker, whose claimed that her son was seriously ill, sparked the initial story.