Manasi Parekh says Gujarati cinema is ready for global audiences
National Award-winning actor Manasi Parekh and her husband, singer Parthiv Gohil, told India Today they plan to take Gujarati stories global through their banner Soul Sutra. "Our stories are local but the emotion is global," she said. The couple have produced six films; Laalo, directed by Ankit Sakhiya, released in 41 countries. Their 2023 film Kutch Express won three National Film Awards. Upcoming projects are Nanda Devi, Purple America and Laxman.
Source
Cinema · read the original report ↗
Desk check · compared with the source
What the desk checked (5)
- Laalo – Krishna Sada Sahaayate (2025), directed by Ankit Sakhiya, was released in 41 countries. — Figure appears in source; attributed to the report, no independent documentation cited.
- The couple have produced six films under their banner Soul Sutra. — Stated in source based on the interview; not independently sourced.
- Kutch Express (2023) won three National Film Awards and Parekh became the first Gujarati actor to win Best Actress. — Appears in source as fact; attributed to the report.
- The 72nd National Film Awards ceremony was held at the Statue of Unity in Gujarat last week. — Stated in source; relative time reference depends on publication date.
- Upcoming projects are Nanda Devi, Purple America and Laxman. — Attributed to the couple in the interview; stages of production described only generally.
Analysts’ view opinion
Gujarati cinema has largely depended on a home-state audience; what Manasi Parekh and Parthiv Gohil are attempting is to push past that towards diaspora screens and festival markets. Laalo's release in 41 countries and Kutch Express's three National Awards give their banner the two things a young production house needs — commercial reach and critical credibility. Yet her own admission that every project had to be started "from scratch" even after six films is the real signal: smaller-language industries still lack durable infrastructure.
- The move from award-winning actor to producer is a deliberate career shift — it puts creative control and script selection in their own hands.
- Her argument that regional cinema survives on controlled budgets plus culturally rooted content is sound risk logic: lower outlay makes even modest overseas earnings meaningful.
- A release in 41 countries indicates distribution spread, not necessarily screen counts or box-office scale — it is mainly a diaspora footprint.
- Citing Malayalam cinema's global attention and Korean shows' popularity in India supports the case that audience tolerance for subtitles has genuinely shifted.
- Two of three upcoming films carry international dimensions while one stays rooted in Gujarati storytelling — a sensibly hedged slate rather than a single bet.
What to watch — Watch whether Nanda Devi, Purple America or Laxman actually convert into festival selections or firm overseas distribution deals — that is the test of whether this global strategy is working.
The story offers no box-office figures, budgets or confirmed festival selections, so it does not establish how commercially successful this push has been — it is a statement of producer intent.
Deep dive
Research brief · 8 facts · 4 dates · exam-readyThe brief
Context
Gujarati cinema, long a regional industry with modest budgets, has begun seeking audiences beyond India. National Award-winning actor Manasi Parekh and her husband, singer Parthiv Gohil, run the production banner Soul Sutra and have made six films. In an exclusive interview with India Today Digital, they described plans to build a "Gujarati-to-global" storytelling ecosystem after the success of their 2025 devotional drama Laalo – Krishna Sada Sahaayate, arguing that local stories carry globally understood emotion.
Key facts
- Manasi Parekh and Parthiv Gohil have produced six films under their home banner Soul Sutra.
- Their 2025 film 'Laalo – Krishna Sada Sahaayate', directed by Ankit Sakhiya, was released in 41 countries.
- The couple have begun working on international distribution with festivals such as Cannes and Venice.
- Their 2023 drama 'Kutch Express' won three National Film Awards.
- Parekh became the first-ever Gujarati actor to win the National Film Award for Best Actress.
- The 72nd National Film Awards ceremony was held at the Statue of Unity in Gujarat last week.
- Upcoming slate: Nanda Devi, Purple America (both with international dimensions) and Laxman (rooted in Gujarati storytelling).
- Parekh was recently seen in the Netflix show 'Chumbak'.
Timeline
- 2023'Kutch Express' releases and wins three National Film Awards; Parekh becomes the first Gujarati actor to win Best Actress.
- 2025'Laalo – Krishna Sada Sahaayate', directed by Ankit Sakhiya, succeeds and is released in 41 countries.
- Last week (as of the story)72nd National Film Awards ceremony held at the Statue of Unity in Gujarat.
- UpcomingThree projects at different stages: Nanda Devi, Purple America and Laxman.
Who has a stake
- Manasi Parekh — Actor-producer; National Award Best Actress winner seeking global reach for Gujarati stories through Soul Sutra.
- Parthiv Gohil — Singer and co-producer; partner in building the banner's international collaborations.
- Soul Sutra (production banner) — Six films produced; expanding ambitions into international distribution and festival circuits.
- Gujarati film industry — Stands to gain wider audiences and prestige as its films travel to overseas markets and festivals.
- Ankit Sakhiya (director) — Directed Laalo, the film that anchored the banner's global push.
- Bollywood / Hindi cinema — Facing questions over old formulae as regional cinema gains international attention, per Parekh.
- Other regional industries (Malayalam, Nagaland cinema cited) — Part of the same shift of Indian regional cinema towards global audiences.
Why it matters
The story captures a structural shift in Indian cinema, where regional-language films with controlled budgets and culturally rooted content are finding overseas markets and festival attention rather than depending on Hindi cinema's reach. If Gujarati films can travel like Laalo did to 41 countries, it widens India's soft-power footprint and diversifies the country's film economy. It also signals that dubbing, subtitling and streaming habits have made language a weaker barrier for audiences.
UPSC angle
Prelims pointers
- Soul Sutra is the production banner of actor Manasi Parekh and singer Parthiv Gohil; six films produced.
- 'Kutch Express' (2023) won three National Film Awards; Manasi Parekh was the first Gujarati actor to win Best Actress.
- 'Laalo – Krishna Sada Sahaayate' (2025), directed by Ankit Sakhiya, released in 41 countries.
- The 72nd National Film Awards ceremony was held at the Statue of Unity, Gujarat.
- Upcoming Soul Sutra projects: Nanda Devi, Purple America and Laxman.
- Parekh cited Malayalam cinema and films from Nagaland as examples of regional cinema going international.
Mains framing
Indian regional cinema's globalisation is being driven less by scale than by specificity: as Manasi Parekh argues, regional industries have survived on controlled budgets and content rooted in language and culture, while Bollywood's older formulae are being questioned. Changing audience habits — the popularity of Korean shows in India, streaming platforms, subtitling — have blurred the lines between regional and global, commercial and art, so that a Gujarati devotional drama like Laalo could release in 41 countries. The way forward, as the Soul Sutra experience suggests, lies in building an ecosystem rather than one-off films: overseas distribution networks, festival pathways such as Cannes and Venice, international collaborations and a slate that mixes globally framed projects (Nanda Devi, Purple America) with locally rooted ones (Laxman). Recognition matters too: Kutch Express's three National Film Awards and the 72nd National Film Awards ceremony at the Statue of Unity in Gujarat give smaller industries visibility and confidence. The caveat is that the source describes intent and early success, not a settled model, so sustainability of funding and audience retention abroad remains to be tested.
Key terms
- Soul Sutra
- The home production banner of Manasi Parekh and Parthiv Gohil, under which six films have been produced.
- Laalo – Krishna Sada Sahaayate
- 2025 Gujarati devotional drama directed by Ankit Sakhiya, released in 41 countries.
- Kutch Express
- 2023 Gujarati drama that won three National Film Awards, including Best Actress for Manasi Parekh.
- National Film Awards
- India's national film honours; the 72nd ceremony was held at the Statue of Unity in Gujarat.
- Regional cinema
- Films in India's non-Hindi languages; cited here as increasingly reaching international audiences.
- Chumbak
- Netflix show in which Manasi Parekh was recently seen.
Practice questions
- "Our stories are local but the emotion is global." Examine how India's regional-language film industries are finding international audiences, with examples from the story.
- Discuss the factors that have made language a weaker barrier for film audiences, and what this means for India's cultural soft power.
- What institutional and market support would help smaller film industries such as Gujarati cinema sustain overseas distribution and festival presence?
Grounded only in the source report — figures and dates are the source's, not inferred.