Aarti Chhabria
Aarti Chhabria

Aarti Chhabria, who you’ll remember from films like Awara Paagal Deewana, Tumse Achcha Kaun Hai and Shootout At Lokhandwala, has just directed her first film. The 30-minute long short film, titled Mumbai Varanasi Express, tells the story of a man who only has two months left to live. Krishnakant Jhunjhunwala, who is the founder of a 15 hundred crore empire, decides to leave everything behind and check into a “death hostel” in Varanasi. There, he learns some important lessons.

Check out the trailer:

Aarti says:

Directing itself was really exciting and rewarding. I had previously done some music videos, chekovian films, Mise-en-scène’s, and some short films in my schooling at New York Film Academy. In those projects I was working with mostly American, European, and African actors, so for my first big project on Mumbai-Varnasi Express it was wonderful to work with Indian actors, especially a veteran like Darshanji….also really enjoyed with a brand new actor like the one from Varanasi who played the rickshaw driver. It was harder than I thought to describe and get out of the actors the exact vision I had for the characters, but it came together beautifully. Quite a journey!

What did you think of the trailer?