Filming will commence next week on contemporary British Asian comedy feature “The Effects of Lying,” directed by Isher Sahota (“Hollyoaks”).
The cast includes Ace Bhatti (“Bohemian Rhapsody,” “Line of Duty”), Laila Rouass (“Holby City,” “Spooks”), Navin Chowdhry (“The End of the F***ing World,” “Our Girl”), Shaheen Khan (“Mogul Mowgli”), Lauren Patel (“Everybody’s Talking About Jamie”), Adam Bregman (“Tolkien,” “Genius”) and Mark Williams (the Harry Potter franchise).
Based on a script by James Hey (“Doctors”), the film follows a dutiful husband and loving father (Bhatti) whose life falls apart when decades of festering secrets are exposed and he’s forced to face up to who he really is.
The Bonaparte Films production is produced by Jon Tarcy (“In Memoriam Dr. H.G.K.”), with Parmjit Gill serving as script editor and the casting director is Claudia Blunt.
“The Effects of Lying” “seeks to bring a new, urgent representation of contemporary British Asians to the cinema screen,” the production said in a statement.
In 2016, Sahota was selected for a place on the BBC’s New Directors Scheme and directed “Father Brown” for BBC Studios and “McDonald & Dodds” for ITV/Mammoth Screen. His comedy-drama script “The Rise And Fall of Ronak Malhotra” was nominated for Edinburgh TV Festival’s 2020 New Voices Awards. He currently has television projects in development with Objective Fiction and Story First. His last short film “Goodnight Henry” was supported by the BFI. “The Effects of Lying” is his debut feature.
Sahota said: “James Hey’s script was thrilling and unique: an aspirational, modern British family that just happened to be Asian. It was so refreshing to read complex, nuanced characters with dark histories and secret desires without mention of the tired cliches and tropes that British Asian stories have traditionally been limited to. We’ve assembled a fantastic team and an incredible cast, and we’re so excited to bring this story to life.”
Tarcy said: “In lockdown this project became a way to empower ourselves as filmmakers with a story we felt we had to tell. We decided not to delay by exploring the usual funding channels and instead planned for a micro budget shoot so we could raise funding independently ourselves.”
Blunt added: “’The Effects of Lying’ provided a fascinating opportunity as a casting director, to forge an ensemble of top tier British Asian talent. I am deeply grateful to our superb cast for signing up unreservedly to a micro budget feature that, I hope, will be a landmark moment in representation.”
Executive producers on the film include Ash Verma, Bob Kullar, Kishan Kainth and Raindance founder Elliot Grove. Greg Schroeder is co-producer.
Sahota is represented by Sam Greenwood and Nish Panchal at Curtis Brown.
