She started her creative career at the age of 21 as a still photographer. From there, she forayed into the world of making music videos and directed and produced a number of music videos and commercials. Today, Shareen Mantri Kedia, who has a keen eye for detail and an instinctive knack of choosing intriguing and entertaining content that connects with audiences globally, has transitioned into film production with Beyond The Clouds, starring Ishaan Khatter and Malavika Mohanan helmed by the Oscar-nominated Majid Majidi.
Along with her business partner, Kishor Arora, with whom she had worked for over a decade, they founded Namah Pictures, a content-driven production company which has been telling compelling stories through films and digital space.
This includes a web series which is in its Season 2 finale — Karenjit Kaur, a biopic of Sunny Leone — became popular instantly. “It tells the story of how Karenjit became Sunny Leone. While most of the biopics take a liberty and add dramatisation and fiction element, Karenjit Kaur is as true and it can get. This is because she wanted to tell the world her story her way. But most biopics have fictional element and dramatisation to add entertainment quotient. Otherwise, it will be a documentary. Not that there is any harm in being part of a documentary. There are people who love to watch them. But Sunny Leone wanted people to see her life through her eyes,” Kedia says who is also working on the biopic Birsa Munda.
She tells you that there are several challenges when makers work on a biopic. First, a lot of research is required. This means that at the end of it, there is way too much information. This, in turn, means that the filmmakers have to pick and choose how to tell the story and what information to share without meaning to distort reality.
“The tough part is that there is way too much information. As a producer, I would want to put out everything. But this is not possible. Our job is to ensure that we cull the information in such a manner that the end product is engaging,” Kedia shares who says that her 10 years in the industry have been interesting.
“It would be unfair to say that I have been dealt a bad hand. I have been here only for 10 years. In an industry that has had many legendary directors, I would say that my career path has been good thus far,” Kedia says who tells you that their aim is to give people the best possible content under every genre.
“We choose a project that excites us. I believe that if it makes it interesting for us, there will be some people like us who love to watch it as well. Take for example Karenjit Kaur. When we embarked on a biopic on her, I wanted to know how she became Sunny Leone. I was sure there will be people who would want to see beyond what Sunny Leone is all about. And we were right. The web series became popular. We made Season 2. If need be there will be a Season 3. The digital space has opened avenues for all kinds of content and genres. We would want to be part of each and every one of those in the coming years,” Kedia says.