Sundance-winning producer Neeraj Churi and U.S. filmmaker Daniel Talbott have joined forces to produce “Starvation,” a Mumbai-set feature written and directed by Film and Television Institute of India graduates Saurav Mahind and Tejas Shende.
The project marks the first collaboration between Churi’s Lotus Visual Prods. and Talbott’s Orphan Andy Films.
The film centers on a pickpocket who survives by exploiting the desires of closeted men, until his detached worldview is upended when one of his marks returns seeking closeness rather than settling scores. Described by its producers as psychologically grounded, the project engages with themes of desire, class and emotional survival. It has been selected for the Writers’ Ink Screenwriting Lab 2026.
Mahind, an FTII-trained writer-director whose work focuses on loneliness and unspoken emotional realities, received early recognition when his student short “Upon Starvation” claimed best short film in the international competition at the Sunny Bunny International Queer Film Festival. The film continues to screen at festivals. Mahind was also selected for the Indian government’s Creative Minds of Tomorrow program at the International Film Festival of India.
