Hollywood Reporter names Sanya Malhotra as 'talent to watch' at Berlin International Film Festival

Sanya Malhotra is on a roll! The actress is coming off the critically acclaimed Pataakha (2018) and the family drama Badhaai Ho (2018), one of the top hits of last year. And now she has been named as one of five talents to watch by trade magazine Hollywood Reporter.

Malhotra brought in 2019 with Ritesh Batra's Photograph, which was premiered at the Sundance Film Festival on Sunday 27 January. The feature is being distributed by Amazon Studios and is due for release in India on 8 March.

Hollywood Reporter reviewed the film at Sundance: "Sanya Malhotra successfully captures Miloni's drifting sense of herself and her future, even if Batra's screenplay doesn't shape that ambivalence sharply enough."

Now, just ahead of the Berlin International Film Festival next week, the magazine has called Malhotra, along with Jonas Dassler, Angeliki Papoulia, Anna Pniowsky and Slick Woods, a big-screen discovery to look out for.

Photograph, also starring Nawazuddin Siddiqui, will be screened in the Special Gala section of the German festival.

Film critic Rajeev Masand pointed out the honour as he read the magazine's online edition on the iPad.

The magazine wrote, "The Indian actress, 26, has made a name for herself at home with a starring role in 2018's Bollywood hits Badhaai Ho and Pataakha. But her turn as a shy stranger called on to pose as the fake fiancee of a struggling street photographer in Photograph, from The Lunchbox director Ritesh Batra, could be her chance to cross over internationally."

Malhotra reunites with Dangal (2016) co-star (and screen sister) Fatima Sana Shaikh on the upcoming untitled anthology film directed by Anurag Basu.