A new independent film is bringing Hollywood actors to Duluth.<\/p>\n
If you\u2019ve driven past Mr. D\u2019s or the Kom-On-Inn in Duluth lately, you might have noticed movie trailers and film stars. An indie movie called \u2018Arya\u2019 is being filmed in our backyard. <\/p>\n
The film is about creatives with vastly different cultural backgrounds coming together and discovering more about themselves in the process. Minneapolis-based writer Neil Tuli is making his directorial debut on the movie, which is partially inspired by elements of his own life<\/p>\n
He said many of his friends and family are \u201cridiculously\u201d disciplined musicians.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat if one of them, like my mom or one of these artists had stayed in India, had dedicated themselves to this discipline and to this life?\u201d he said, standing on the sidewalk outside of Mr. D\u2019s. \u201cWhat\u2019s a narrative kind of following that thread line that also pulls in some of the fish-out-of-water cultural experiences that I\u2019ve had?\u201d<\/p>\n
The film combines that with classic Northwoods experiences, he said, like the \u201ccold plunge with your in-laws.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSo, I thought that there was some beautiful contrast with the way South Asian culture often approaches community,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Producers Pallavi and Keertana Sastry said coming filming in Duluth adds to the authenticity of the story.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen you\u2019re telling a Minnesota story, and you have a writer-director that lives in Minnesota, why would you not come to Minnesota and film?\u201d Pallavi said.<\/p>\n
She said the set employs between 35 and 40 people at a time, and about 90% of them are Minnesotan. One of the faces you might recognize around is Marc Evan Jackson, known for his roles in Brooklyn 99, Park and Recreation and The Good Place.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat I love about Duluth is that it\u2019s a proper city,\u201d he said. \u201cThere\u2019s all kinds of life and culture and nightlife and music and restaurants and bars and things, but also 10 minutes away, you\u2019re in the woods. It\u2019s a really special place in that regard.\u201d<\/p>\n
A local musician, Alan Sparhawk of the band \u2018Low,\u2019 is making his film debut in \u2018Arya.\u2019 You might know him for his song, \u2018No More Darkness.\u2019 He said it\u2019s great to see familiar faces in the crew, and said the film is probably good for the city, not just economically, but for local \u201cself-esteem.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI know that it\u2019s a great place and I think we have a lot of underdog syndrome here,\u201d Sparhawk said. \u201cDuluth feels like we\u2019re just sort of out of the way from everything else that\u2019s going on in the world. So, it\u2019s nice when the world comes here and we realize that we can be just as much part of it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sayani Gupta plays the films titular character. The Indian actress is known for \u2018Delhi Crime\u2019 and \u2018Article 15,\u2019 and this is her first U.S. film.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe journey that Arya has in the film \u2018Aria \u2018Arya\u2019 is that she is a pianist, and she is a piano teacher back at a conservatory in India,\u201d she explained. \u201cDue to certain circumstances, she has to travel all the way to the other side of the world and comes to Minnesota to teach at this music school.\u201d<\/p>\n
She said sometimes the role almost feels like method acting because it closely mirrors what she\u2019s experiencing filming in Duluth.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s very strange, but in many ways, it\u2019s been totally meta for me,\u201d Gupta said. \u201cIt\u2019s very often that Sayani and Arya come together and it\u2019s a beautiful confluence.\u201d<\/p>\n
The film has changed a lot as they\u2019ve worked on it, Tuli said, but Duluth has been a charming and welcoming place to ride out the journey. <\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tFor Related Stories:\u00a0Alex Haddon<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0Duluth<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0Entertainment<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0Movies<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A new independent film is bringing Hollywood actors to Duluth. If you\u2019ve driven past Mr. D\u2019s or the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":353281,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[131753,98,100,99,131754,157,158,9,24,63],"class_list":["post-353280","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-brooklyn","tag-alex-haddon","tag-brooklyn","tag-brooklyn-headlines","tag-brooklyn-news","tag-duluth","tag-entertainment","tag-movies","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/353280","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=353280"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/353280\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/353281"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=353280"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=353280"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=353280"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}