Sonal Sehgal to romance Russian actor in her debut co-production Manny

Actress Sonal Sehgal will next be seen romancing Russian actor Jurjis Dyakonovs in her own production, Manny, which is an Indo-Latvian collaboration. The actor who has previously worked in Europe, will also be seen in a web-series starring Sophie Turner, who is best known for portraying Sansa Stark in the HBO television series Game Of Thrones.  

Manny is directed by Latvian director Dace Puce and its shooting was completed in January this year. The film also stars British actor Tony Hopkins and Latvian artistes Darta Danevica, Egons Dombrovskis and Marta Grase.  

Speaking about the theme of the film, Sehgal said in an official statement, “Manny is a sci-fi psychological thriller. The theme of the film is very global. Dace and I felt the cast should be global as well. The script was sent to Jurijs and he gave a nod immediately. The film is futuristic and the process of making the film has also been very unconventional. I play an Indian girl who travels to Latvia to participate in a writer’s retreat and then gets trapped by AI (artificial intelligence).” 

Talking about her rapport with Dyakonovs, she said, “I was surprised that Jurijs had been to India five times! So he was very well tuned to Indian culture and did not need a lot of explanation regarding the nuances of my character.” 

On how she prepared for her role, Sehgal said, “Since my visa was delayed and I was only going to arrive in Latvia a week before the shoot, we decided to do readings over Google Hangout. All the actors made themselves available for all the online readings with the entire team. By the time I actually met them, it was like we already knew each other pretty well.” 

Sehgal will also be seen in Rahat Kazmi’s Lihaaf: The Quilt (2020), for which she was one of the screenplay writers as well.