''Love, Lies and Seeta'' is a 2012

Indian-American Indian Americans or Indo-Americans are citizens of the United States with ancestry from India. The United States Census Bureau uses the term Asian Indian to avoid confusion with Native Americans, who have also historically been referred to ...

independent

romantic comedy Romantic comedy (also known as romcom or rom-com) is a subgenre of comedy and slice of life fiction, focusing on lighthearted, humorous plot lines centered on romantic ideas, such as how true love is able to surmount most obstacles. In a typica ...

film written, produced, directed by Chandra Pemmaraju. Starring Melanie Kannokada, Arjun Gupta, Lavrenti Lopes, Michael Derek, it is built around three distinctly different guys all of whom pine for the same beautiful girl. The movie premiered at the

India International Film Festival (IIFF) of Tampa Bay The India International Film Festival (IIFF) of Tampa Bay takes place annually in Tampa, Florida Tampa () is a city on the Gulf Coast of the United States, Gulf Coast of the U.S. state of Florida. The city's borders include the north shore of T ...

in Florida and went on to play in various international film festivals before having a limited theatrical release in India on May 18, 2012 by Cinemax. The film marks Melanie Kannokada's debut as lead in a feature film.

Cast

* Melanie Kannokada as Seeta * Arjun Gupta as Rahul * Lavrenti Lopes as Bhavuk * Michael Derek as Tom * Ryan Vigilant as

Tom Cruise Thomas Cruise Mapother IV (born July 3, 1962), known professionally as Tom Cruise, is an American actor and producer. One of the world's highest-paid actors, he has received various accolades, including an Honorary Palme d'Or and three Gol ...

* Leah Kavita as Ramya * Caroline Korale as Caroline * Aaron Katter as Bud * Daniel Wilkinson as Young John McKinsey, and * Rob Byrnes as John McKinsey

Production

The film was shot completely in

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

and

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

in NYC with an ensemble Indian American cast. The movie was produced in

micro-budget A low-budget film or low-budget movie is a motion picture shot with little to no funding from a major film studio or private investor. Many independent films are made on low budgets, but films made on the mainstream circuit with inexperienced or ...

and shot on location using sync sound. The movie is first of its kind where it was funded and supported by film enthusiasts. By using crowd sourcing method the producers raised all the money for its production.

Music

The film features original music by various Independent musicians including Robopop, Timblane, New Life Crisis, Matt Hartke, La Dauphine and Wiredbeats.

Release

On May 18, 2012, Cinemax Motion Pictures Pvt Ltd, India released the film theatrically on a limited basis in the Indian sub-continent. The film will be distributed by NYC based The Vladar Company in digital North American regions.

Critical Reception

The film received mixed reviews. Y. Sunita Chowdhary from ''

The Hindu ''The Hindu'' is an Indian English-language daily newspaper owned by The Hindu Group, headquartered in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. It began as a weekly in 1878 and became a daily in 1889. It is one of the Indian newspapers of record and the secon ...

'' called it "a reasonably engaging watch". ''

The Times of India ''The Times of India'', also known by its abbreviation ''TOI'', is an Indian English-language daily newspaper and digital news media owned and managed by The Times Group. It is the third-largest newspaper in India by circulation and largest ...

'' gave the movie a rating of 1 out of 5 and said that, "Director of this Indie-film, Chandra Pemmaraju, set out to make a love story against the backdrop of an electrifying NYC, but ended up with a film which reminds you of a bad episode of an American sitcom." Blessy Chettiar of

DNA India ''Zee Media Corporation Limited'' (abbreviated as ZMCL; formerly Zee News Limited) is the news broadcasting company of the Essel Group which is controlled by Subhash Chandra. The company is engaged mainly in the business of broadcasting of news ...

gave the film a rating of 1 out of 5 and said that, "Love Lies and Seeta could have been a commendable indie effort. The lack of a watertight screenplay and very casual treatment reduces it to one of those amateur film school projects." ''Bollywood Life'' criticized the acting as well as execution of the film and said that, "Actors are uncomfortable and lack energy, making the film boring".

Accolades

''Love Lies and Seeta'' was the closing night feature at the

in Florida in February 2012, and was opening night feature film i
Art of Brooklyn International Film Festival
in NY, August 2012. It played in various film festivals such as, NewFilmmakers Film Festival, New York; Riverside International Film Festival, CA; won the Award of Merit in Indie Fest, USA; Won an Honorary Mention Award in Los Angeles New Wave Indie Fest and was a part of NFDC Film Bazaar at International Film Festival of India, Goa. The movie also played in Mumbai Film market and was nominated for the Best Film, Best Direction, Best Cinematography and Best Actor categories at the World Music & Independent Film Festival 2012, Washington D.C.

References

External links

* * {{IMDb title, id=1862047, title=Love, Lies and Seeta Films set in 2010 2012 films American independent films Films about Indian Americans Films shot in New York City 2012 directorial debut films 2010s English-language films 2010s American films