Rashaana Shah & Manasi Parekh Join $10M AIF Media Fund; Initial Slate Headed By Rick Moody Adaptation ‘Purple America’
Indian actress-producers Rashaana Shah and Manasi Parekh have joined Parthiv Gohil on the advisory board of AIF Media Fund Orenda Creative, a new India-based investment platform for international films and documentaries. The fund has raised an initial $10 million and aims to connect investors with commercially viable, artistically ambitious projects, including cross-border co-productions.
Its first three projects are an adaptation of Rick Moody’s novel Purple America, the mystery thriller Nanda Devi and coming-of-age drama Laxman. Purple America, about a troubled son caring for his terminally ill mother, is being written and directed by Travis Hodgkins and is expected to begin production in the first quarter of next year; Nanda Devi concerns plutonium lost during a covert Himalayan mission, while Laxman follows siblings who establish a refuge for abandoned cows after experiencing poverty.
- New Indian media fund raises $10 million for international projects.
- Shah and Parekh join its advisory board.
- Rick Moody adaptation leads its first three-film slate.
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India’s film industry is increasingly working with partners from other countries, using co-productions and private investment to make films for audiences beyond one national market. AIF Media Fund Orenda Creative is a new fund set up to finance international feature films and documentaries, beginning with $10m in backing.
The advisory board includes Rashaana Shah and Manasi Parekh, who work as actors and producers, alongside singer and producer Parthiv Gohil. Advisory boards typically help shape a fund’s creative and business choices, while the fund itself provides money to selected projects.
Its opening slate combines an English-language literary adaptation with stories rooted in India. Such projects can require funding and production partners across several countries, and their performance may help determine whether the fund can attract further investors and support later films.