Producers Richa Chadha, Ali Fazal’s ‘Secrets of a Mountain Serpent’ set for Venice premiere

Mumbai, July 24 Star couple Richa Chadha and Ali Fazal’s film ‘Secrets of a Mountain Serpent' produced under their banner Pushing Buttons Studios is all set to have its premiere at the Venice Film Festival.

“Secrets of a Mountain Serpent” is directed by Nidhi Saxena, whose debut feature, Sad Letters of an Imaginary Woman premiered at the 2024 Busan International Film Festival to great acclaim, is the first Indian woman to win the Biennale College Fund grant for Secrets of a Mountain Serpent.

Richa Chadha and Ali Fazal said in a joint statement: "We were immediately drawn to Nidhi’s lyrical vision. This is a story rooted in myth and yet is startlingly relevant today. At

PBS, we believe in backing storytellers who take creative risks and Nidhi has crafted something singular, poetic, and soulful."

Set in a remote Himalayan town during the 1990s, ‘Secrets of a Mountain Serpent’ tells the intimate story of Barkha played by Trimala Adhikari, a schoolteacher whose husband is posted at the border.

In a place where most men are gone and days echo with silence, Barkha finds herself drawn to Manik Guho, played by Adil Hussain, a mysterious outsider who disrupts the fragile balance of waiting, restraint, and myth.

Saxena, who also wrote the film, welcomed the new creative partnership and said the film is about women who chose to risk everything and follow their desires, shedding the burden of moralities imposed upon them by the world.

The director added: “I was looking for kindred collaborators and this feels like a meeting of minds and hearts. It also feels like we no longer need to borrow men’s voices to tell our stories. We have our own voice, which is strong, with femininity”.

Secrets of a Mountain Serpent has recently completed principal photography and is currently in post-production. It will have its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival in August 2025.

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