Mumba Devi Motion Pictures’ latest film I Am Not an Actor (“Lead Actor Nahin Hoon”), starring Nawazuddin Siddiqui and Chitrangada Satarupa, will have its world premiere at the 2025 Cinequest Film Festival in California in March.
The Hindi-English drama, directed by Aditya Kripalani, follows a frustrated but hardened actor in Mumbai who spends a day teaching acting to a depressed, recently retired banker in Frankfurt via video calls. The film was uniquely shot simultaneously across India and Germany over 28 days, with the two lead actors performing their scenes live via video chat despite difficult weather conditions and a time difference of 4.5 hours between the two locations.
Kripalani chose this unconventional approach to capture real video call interactions between the characters. “The film has a conversation taking place over the course of a day between two countries over a video call. In a way, in real life, when you have a conversation over a video call, if it is intense, we almost forget that there is a screen. We were aiming to achieve the same thing,” Kripalani explained. Through the conversations in the film.” To achieve this, we shot on both sides simultaneously. One team in Frankfurt and one team in Mumbai.
“Labeling someone makes us feel good because it gives the false idea that we have understood someone; whereas in reality it does just the opposite and creates walls for us to expand slowly and carefully,” Kripalani added, explaining the themes of the film. “About the basic idea that human beings exist on a much deeper level, and are very similar.”
For Siddiqi, who also works as a producer via his company Side Hero Entertainment, the role presented new territory: “The idea of me playing a banker learning to act was exciting from the beginning. “I had never heard of a script like this,” said the Sacred Games star. “It sounds like It’s the right kind of scenario to join. Especially since Aditya discovered a lot about the craft of acting in the film.
The ambitious production faced unique challenges due to the live, transcontinental shooting style. “While I was freezing at two degrees (in Frankfurt), in India sometimes because of the intense heat, the cameras would overheat and we had to stop filming for hours,” my friend noted.
Satarupa, who shot her scenes in Mumbai, described the experience as both demanding and satisfying: “Balancing the logistical complexities while maintaining the authenticity of the character, shooting in the sweltering Mumbai heat in real locations – even sometimes guerrilla style – was a challenge.” “Easy.”
Following the film’s world premiere, producer Sweta Chhabria has confirmed plans to premiere the film in Europe, the UK and Asia, aiming for a limited theatrical release in India followed by a streaming platform release. Ranjan Singh (“Kennedy”) serves as associate producer.
‘I’m Not an Actor’ marks the latest socially conscious feature from Mumba Devi Motion Pictures, following the Netpac Award-winning ‘Devi Aur Hero’ (2019) and Fipresci Award-winning ‘Not Today’ (2021).