From romantic comedies like ‘Jawaani Jaaneman’ to action-packed thrillers like ‘Malang’ and psychological dramas such as ‘Freddy’ and ‘Jaane Jaan,’ producer Jay Shewakramani has established a diverse portfolio under his banner, Northern Lights Films. With two films already in post-production, Shewakramani is now expanding his upcoming slate further with multiple new projects across genres in development, carving out a significant space for himself in Bollywood.

PeepingMoon.com has exclusively learned that Shewakramani has signed three accomplished filmmakers — Saket Chaudhary, Anirudh Iyer, and Pulkit — for future directorial ventures. Saket, best known for directing the late Irrfan Khan in the critically acclaimed ‘Hindi Medium’ (2017), is set to helm a youthful, culturally-rooted horror comedy for Northern Lights Films. Although he's also committed to several other projects for different producers, this film is expected to mark his comeback feature directorial after an eight-year hiatus. He last directed a segment in Netflix India's anthology, ‘Ankahi Kahaniya’.

Anirudh Iyer, who previously assisted Aanand L. Rai and debuted as a director with Ayushmann Khurrana and Jaideep Ahlawat’s critically appreciated ‘An Action Hero’ (2022), has been roped in to direct a light-hearted action comedy. Both Chaudhary’s and Iyer’s films are in the final stages of script development and are slated to begin production either by the end of this year or early next year, contingent on the availability of their respective cast.

As for Pulkit, he has been signed for his second film with Northern Lights Films even before their first collaboration, Rajkummar Rao starrer ‘Maalik’, releases in theatres in June. Pulkit’s new project is said to be a courtroom drama and is presently in the casting stage. An A-list Bollywood actress is in talks to star, but she hasn't been signed yet. Pulkit earlier directed Rajkummar Rao’s ‘Boss: Dead/Alive’ and Bhumi Pednekar’s Netflix crime thriller ‘Bhakshak’.

In addition to these projects, Shewakramani also has two films slated for release this year. Rajkummar Rao’s ‘Maalik,’ scheduled to release on June 20, is a gangster drama about a man's rise to power in the underworld, while the second film, ‘Inspector Zende,’ stars Manoj Bajpayee and Jim Sarbh in the lead. The latter is a Netflix film about a Mumbai cop named Madhukar Zende, who famously captured the notorious serial killer Charles Sobhraj on two separate occasions during his extraordinary four-decade crime career. The film recently completed production and is anticipated to premiere on Netflix later this year.