A guerilla film shot around the 13th International Children's Film Festival. A decade in post-production. Piyush Mishra recorded two songs for eleven rupees — purely out of love for cinema. This is that film.
 - Tapeloop Records - MC Joint.jpg)
Sheeshmahal began in a moment before trends catch up to themselves. Shooting on a 5D camera was yet to become a norm when Camp Sasi — who had multiple ad films to his name at the time — assembled a guerilla team and set out to shoot a docufiction around the 13th International Children's Film Festival in Hyderabad. What was conceived as a single, simple story rooted in that world grew, organically and unstoppably, into something far larger.
Shooting commenced in November 2013 and stretched across nearly a year. The film became Avanti Cinema's magnum opus — a multilingual anthology set across interconnected stories, shot in Telugu, Hindi, Malayalam and English. Its making brought together a constellation of collaborators who would each go on to define their own chapters of Indian independent cinema.
What started out as a simple docufiction turned into one of the most awaited indie films of the decade — and a magnum opus of a kind for Avanti Cinema.
The film was shot by VS Gnanashekar — who at the time was yet to break through into mainstream Telugu cinema. Sheeshmahal predates his subsequent high-profile work, making the film a document not only of Avanti Cinema's ambition but of a moment when many of its collaborators were still at the beginning of careers that would go on to define Telugu cinema.
Vivek Sagar came on board as music composer before his breakthrough with Pelli Choopulu (2016) made him one of Telugu cinema's most celebrated composers. The Sheeshmahal score — multilingual, eclectic, and emotionally precise — stands as an early marker of the sensibility that would later earn him two Filmfare nominations.
Vivek Sagar signed on Piyush Mishra — the celebrated Bollywood actor, lyricist, and playwright — to write and sing two songs: "Bhola Sa Mann Tha" and "Hota Hai." Piyush recorded both for a token amount of ₹11 — purely out of collaborative spirit and love for the craft. Going further, he personally reached out to bring another legend into the project.
Piyush Mishra went out of his way to bring Rahul Ram — vocalist and bassist of the legendary Indian Ocean — on board for the song "Bhatki Raaton Ko." This chain of generosity — one icon reaching out to another on behalf of a small indie film from Hyderabad — speaks to the kind of work Sheeshmahal is, and the warmth it inspired in everyone who encountered it.
Album & jukebox released 2016. Distributed globally by MC Joint via Tapeloop Records.
When MC Joint began its partnership with Avanti Cinema, Sheeshmahal had already been in post-production for years. We had seen a cut of the film. We believed in it completely — and we made it our personal agenda to bring it out. What followed was months of asking, requesting, bickering, negotiating, and demanding — until Rohit and Sasi finally agreed to screen the film.
We organised a screening of a 2hr 14min cut of Sheeshmahal at Ramanaidu Studios. The response was beyond anything we anticipated. Audiences, fans, cast and crew sat on the floor of the screening room and watched — every show sold out or overbooked. The energy in that room gave Rohit and Sasi the push they needed. We kept the momentum going: regular weekly screenings, new viewers every time, growing word-of-mouth, and a sustained PR effort that made Sheeshmahal impossible to ignore.
The continued noise around Sheeshmahal reached producer Snehal Jangala and opened conversations with streaming platforms. By this point, Rohit and Sasi had just had their theatrical debut with Double Engine (January 2025) and were a recognised name in Telugu indie circuits. The offer came from ETV Win, which acquired the streaming rights and made the film available to everyone. Sheeshmahal became Rohit–Sasi's first OTT release — and later that same year, they finished post-production on Chivaraku Migiledhi, releasing it in December 2024. Three feature film releases in a single year — a rare achievement by any standard.
Whether it's been sitting in post for a decade or premiering next month — we know how to build the campaign that gets it there.
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