RASHAANA SHAH: AN ASIAN ENTREPRENEUR SET TO CARVE HER SPACE IN HOLLYWOOD
MAKING A FILM ON THE UTTARAKHAND GLACIER TRAGEDY – A SPY THRILLER
Mulberry Films, a film and television production company based in Los Angeles has acquired multiple bestselling books for film and television adaption. Managing Director Rashaana Shah says, “We want to dwell in true stories of real heroes that resonate with global audiences.”
Mulberry’s project Nanda Devi has recently been in the headlines because of the tragic glacier burst in Uttarakhand, India that resulted in the deaths of approximately fifty people. In 1965, the United States and India collaborated in an attempt to install a listening device at 25,000 feet on the mountain Nanda Devi to monitor the nearby Chinese nuclear test site. The listening device was powered by highly radioactive plutonium and was lost during the expedition. It has been speculated that it may be the cause of the recent glacier burst in Uttarakhand. Mulberry will be producing this movie with Scott Rosenfelt (Home Alone, Critical Thinking).
While the COVID-19 pandemic has stopped production, Ms. Shah and Mulberry Films have used this time to further develop their projects by attaching directors and actors and preparing for the future. One of the movies Mulberry is looking forward to producing this year is The Collaborator. It’s an adaptation of a prize-winning, international bestselling book by Mirza Waheed, told as a coming-of-age war story about a 17-year-old boy caught between India and Pakistan in a long-suffering border war over set in 1989.
Mulberry is also the co-executive producer on the television show Ungifted, based on the children’s novel by Gordon Korman. The project was picked up by Nickelodeon in 2020 prior to the pandemic and should get into production soon. “Mulberry is also set to launch a Film Fund with award-winning producers George Parra (American Hustle, Joy) and Joseph Lanius (To The Bone, Inheritance) for small budget independent films,” says Ms. Shah, “and we really believe the next couple of years are going to be great for Mulberry.”
Rashaana graduated from PICT Pune with a degree in computer science. By the age of 25, she was running three international companies in India, and she moved to Los Angeles five years ago to run Mulberry full-time.
As a woman from India, Rashaana hopes that her success inspires not only other women but all people who are judged on anything other than the merit of their work. “I am very inspired by Priyanka Chopra and Guneet Monga who have redefined Indian cinema for the international audience.”
