Even as his debut feature film 'I Am Kalam' continues to earn laurels, the latest being the Best Film, Best Director and Best Actor awards at the recent Silent River Film Festival in the USA, New Delhi-based director Nila Madhab Panda is launching his next feature film, which will be a children’s adventure thriller set in northern India.

The Hindi feature film, tentatively titled 'Jal Bin Jalpari', is being produced by Ultra Distributors Pvt Ltd, the Rs-3-billion film production, distribution and Restoration Company headquartered in Mumbai.

Starring an eclectic cast comprising Parvin Dabas, Tannishtha Chatterjee, Suhasini Mulay, V M Badola, Rahul Singh and Harsh Mayar (who won the National Award for the Best Child Actor in 'I Am Kalam').

Two highly-talented Delhi kids, Lehar Khan and Krishang Trivedi, will play the protagonist duo of Shreya and Sam, while Salman and Hebron from NGOs Salaam Balak Trust and Ummeed will play other vital child characters along with Harsh Mayar in the film.

The film will have a pulsating title track by Midival Punditz, sung by renowned vocalist Shubha Mudgal, and a couple of Haryanvi folk songs.

Ultra, which recently picked up the worldwide Satellite, Video and other digital rights including the international distribution rights of 'I Am Kalam', has come forward to produce Panda’s new film because of its socially-relevant subject told in an adventure thriller format that has immense market potential both in domestic and international markets.

“After watching ‘I Am Kalam’, I was fascinated about the film, message and the director’s vision. When the Director, Mr. Panda, narrated me the story of ‘Jal bin Jalpari’, I was very much confident of his vision and thought that this is the best opportunity to be socially active through mainstream cinema,” says Ultra group CEO Sushilkumar Agrawal.

Panda says, “I have worked on children and women’s issues for years now. ‘Jal Bin

Jalpari’ is a children’s adventure story with a social backdrop, the kind of story I like to tell my seven-year-old son. In a way, this is a story I want to tell the children of our country and the rest of the world, in a manner that will thrill them and at the same time make them aware about certain social responsibilities.”