At just 24, Anvita Brahmbhatt has achieved a major milestone with her debut film Over A Cup Of Chai, which she directed after graduating from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts. The film has been officially selected for screening at the New York Indian Film Festival 2025. While Anvita is thrilled with the recognition, it’s her deep passion for exploring women’s lives, issues, and experiences that continues to fuel her feminist vision and drive to create more impactful films.
A mother-daughter depiction
The 17-minute film portrays a mother-daughter relationship where the mother’s reserved and perhaps outwardly tough and cold demeanour creates tension when dealing with a sensitive and headstrong daughter who wants to share about and introduce her shy and sensible boyfriend to the mother. The film shot at an Ahmedabad home in about three days will be available to watch on OTT platforms soon. Ratna Pathak Shah, Dalai and Danesh Razvi make for the cast of the film “that almost didn’t get made”!
“We started shooting at my rented apartment in Mumbai but had to stall it midway. I tried to complete it since we had enough footage ready, but when efforts were in vain, I returned to Ahmedabad, convinced the film wouldn’t see the light of day! But then it happened,and despite odds, we finished shooting,” shares Anvita, who had also worked on a film when studying in 2021, titled The Documented Indian, set during the 2019 CAA protest.
Writing a film to ‘feel good’
I began working at a marketing agency in Mumbai after returning from New York in 2023 and within six months realised marketing wasn’t my calling. I was unhappy in my last month at the job and a friend suggested I dedicate an hour to writing every morning since I liked it. That’s how the script of Over A Cup Of Chaihappened;I wanted to explore the mother-daughter relationship and wrote these characters, creating a plot around them.
Getting actors onboard
I had to scout for good actors to play the roles and since I was part of a Whatsapp film group, I dropped basic information about the film and my requirements there. Names popped up, including Ratna Pathak’s, whom I reached out to through a phone message. Since my days at college where I did many films as producer, I have been habituated to view and assess work each as writer, director and producer. When I read a script as writer, I assess how it may engage me as viewer; as filmmaker I think of ways I would direct my actors – what I would tell them, where my camera would be, and the relationship between my camera and characters; me as producer is only looking at logistics – would I have the budget to get a certain location, light, camera, etcor change script to suit everything.
24 directing 68
Directing a seasoned actor like Ratna Pathak Shah was difficult, to say the least. “When I reached out to her, she asked for the script and while I wouldn’t trust anyone with it, I sent it to her via Whatsapp. Glad it was a mother-daughter film, she agreed to do it, but suggested various changes. I didn’t entirely change it and instead offered my perspectives. Since we had shot half a day in Mumbai, she didn’t agree to give me full time and even refused rehearsals. The entire three days were very difficult! She’s not an easy person to direct and the shoot experience was tough. In times ahead, I’d surely expect more professionalism from actors.”
Inspired by Nilanjana Bhowmick’s book Lies Our Mothers Told Us, “it opened my eyes regarding the generational trauma that women have gone through and how it passes on to generations that follow”. Indeed, with a young director inclined to share stories, there’s plenty you will get to watch, sipping cups of chai or even coffee.