Lalit Prabhakar, Sai Tamhankar's Medium Spicy to close 21st River to River Florence Indian Film Festival

After having its world premiere at the Norway Bollywood Festival in September this year, Sai Tamhankar and Lalit Prabhakar's Marathi relationship drama Medium Spicy has now been selected as the closing film for the 21st edition of Italy's River To River Florence Indian Film Festival. 

The event will take place under the Patronage of the Embassy of India from 3 to 8 December 2021. 

Medium Spicy will be screened at the iconic Cinema La Compagnia on 8 December and will be simultaneously available online for people attending the festival virtually all over Italy.

Medium Spicy, helmed by first-time filmmaker Mohit Takalkar, is a story of relationships, love and marriage. Speaking about the film screening in Florence, the director said, "As a filmmaker, there is no better feeling than your film being watched and appreciated by people from around the world. I am excited about how it will be to watch the film on the big screen at a beautiful venue in Florence.”

Medium Spicy was shot in 2019 and scheduled to be released in theatres in June last year, but the makers had to postpone the release due to the coronavirus outbreak. 

The film's producer, Vidhi Kasliwal of Landmarc Films, said, “After finishing the film, as we were gearing up for its release, the pandemic struck the whole world. It has been a challenging time for everyone, including the film industry. However, things are looking up now." 

The film features an interesting supporting cast, which includes Parna Pethe, Sagar Deshmukh, Neha Joshi, Pushkaraj Chirputkar and Ipshitaa, and veterans Neena Kulkarni and Ravindra Mankani. The film also marks the return of actress Arundhati Nag to Marathi cinema after 40 years.

The River to River Florence Indian Film Festival is the only event in Italy totally devoted to films from and about India. The festival, which has been held every year since 2001, has seen the attendance of eminent personalities like Amitabh Bachchan, Anurag Kashyap, Nawazuddin Siddiqui and Tapsee Pannu.