In an interesting turn of events, the talented avante garde actress Nandita Das who has rendered some brilliant performances in films like Earth, Bawandar, Maati Maay and Aks is now all set to turn a director. Nandita has been penciled in by Percept Productions to direct their film which has been titled In Such Times. In keeping with Nandita's reputation as an intense actress, In Such Times which will be partly in Hindi and Gujarati will be an intense issue-based film.

Nandita's film stars an assortment of brilliant actors like Naseeruddin Shah, Paresh Rawal, Jimmy Shergill, and Rahul Singh Maarya besides Tisca Arora. What is interesting to note is that Nandita Das has preferred to remain contented with just wielding the megaphone for the film which will go on the floors in the first week of December in and around Hyderabad.

Rahul Singh Maarya was initially very reluctant to divulge details about the film, but he admitted that Nandita's project would deal with the turbulent times post the Ahmedabad riots, though as far as the subject was concerned, In Such Times was dynamically different in many ways from the Naseer-Sarika starrer Parzania, directed by Rahul Dholakia, which dealt with the grotesque impact of the Godhra riots.

Rahul also said that Nandita's piece of life film consisted of five different human interest stories which were linked to one another. "Jimmy Sheirgill and I appear in one such story whereas Naseer, Paresh Rawal and Tisca appear in the other stories. The film will strive to drive home the message that violence by one human being against another on the basis of religion does not pay in the long run."