Chapman alum Prarthana Mohan directs new Amazon rom-com

Photo Courtesy of Amazon MGM Studios

Kate Sharma, Hardin Scott and Jamie Tartt took a break from their ball gowns, fanfiction and soccer games to star in a new romantic comedy for Amazon Prime — one directed by Prarthana Mohan, a Chapman alumnus from the MFA directing class of 2009. 

On March 6, The Panther sat down with Mohan to discuss the film, the project’s production process and her career since her Chapman graduation. 

The feature, “Picture This,” is an impressive career milestone. Mohan worked with a major studio, her biggest budget yet and celebrity actors like Simone Ashley, known for her leading role in the second season of Netflix’s “Bridgerton,” “After” film series star Hero Fiennes Tiffin and Emmy-nominated Phil Dunster, most known for his role as Jamie Tartt in the TV series “Ted Lasso.”

But “Picture This’s” significance isn’t only defined by its scale. According to Mohan, the film is also a modern, redemptive South Asian story. The rom-com, based on “Five Blind Dates” by Shawn Seet, is about Pia (Ashley), a photographer destined by a spiritual guru to find love within her next five dates.

“(The movie) centers Pia in a fun way — in a way that we haven't seen a South Asian lead a rom-com,” Mohan told The Panther.

This evolution in South Asian narratives is also seen in the progression of Mohan’s own work. After graduating from Chapman, Mohan’s first independent film was “The Miseducation of Bindu,” a dark comedy about an Indian-American high school girl struggling with pain, trauma and anxiety related to her identity.

“The Miseducation of Bindu” kickstarted Mohan’s career, and it was a project that she co-wrote and directed herself. She suggests that student filmmakers spearhead their first projects post-graduation in a similar way.

“If you want to helm projects, you just have to make it yourself,” Mohan told The Panther. “That's what I did for my first one and that's what opened up all the doors.”

Mohan has always been drawn to comedic scripts, funny people and funny situations. Working in the comedy genre provides Mohan with the challenge of making an audience laugh, while also giving her a platform to show, rather than tell. In a movie, showing rather than telling the audience allows the director to create situational comedy and interesting character development. 

“I think it's very hard to make people laugh because I think it's such a cathartic thing to laugh, and you can only laugh when you connect with the characters…,” Mohan said. “So I actually think that doing comedy is quite challenging.”

Mohan was introduced to the script by her agent and she along with four or five other directors pitched their vision for the movie to Amazon. The personality depth, atypical character arcs and unexpected developments in “Picture This” are what initially drew Mohan to the script when her agent introduced it to her. Mohan breaks stereotypes that typically surround her side characters, like the nerdy Indian love interest and the Indian mother. These elements of complexity in the script are also the parts of the movie that make it surprising, heartfelt and groundbreaking in its representation of South Asians.

“We wanted to make something that was really fun and joyful and got people laughing, but also had heart,” Mohan told The Panther. “You know, where you felt like you could connect to these characters and their journey.”

According to Mohan, actors responded positively to the script. In fact, Mohan was able to cast her first choice actors for the project. She attributed their reactions to the compassionate way the script represented the South Asian family central to its story.

“I think certainly for all of our South Asian actors, they really responded to the fact that it was a celebration,” she said. “It centered the family in a very modern light.”

Directing a large cast of 81 actors, including celebrity actors like Ashley and Dunster, was a first for Mohan, but she made space for everyone to thrive.

“It was really important to create that environment on set where they felt supported and were able to do their best work,” she told The Panther. “They're all very funny people. So really creating opportunities for them to give their best.”

“Picture This” is set in London and was shot entirely on-location in the UK. Mohan began work on the project in mid-2023. This movie marked her first time working with Amazon, and for Mohan, coming from a background in indie filmmaking, the company provided a new perspective on the industry.

“(Amazon was) very open to ideas. But, there were times when you had to compromise and say, ‘Okay, well, you guys know what's going to sell, so let's make those decisions,’” she said. “So it was a real balance. But they were great partners and it's been incredible how they've marketed the movie.”

Despite the resources that come with directing an Amazon movie, Mohan still pulled from her toolbox in indie filmmaking. The “scrappy” skills she acquired from her experience on low-budget productions were valuable assets when creating “Picture This.” In fact, two dance sequences featured in the film were shot in a total of ten minutes. Indie filmmaking works on a much tighter budget than Hollywood productions. Having experience working with limited time and resources made Mohan all the more equipped to successfully accomplish the dance sequences despite the pressure of a ticking clock.

“That's all the time I had… I knew we would run into a time issue,” Mohan told The Panther. “So the way I chose to film it was in a way that we could just run through it a couple of times, get all these angles, we set a bunch of cameras and then we shot it.”

Authenticity is at the heart of “Picture This.” It’s why it was important to Mohan to diversify the look and body types of the dancers in the aforementioned dance scenes. She turned down the initial dancers the casting directors offered her because they didn’t look like the guests of a real wedding.

“Not everybody is, you know, right out of a magazine…,” she said. “Our beauty comes in so many different ways.”

“Picture This” is a romantic comedy riddled with relatable stories. Everyone can find something to connect with, and Amazon capitalized on this when marketing the movie. Currently, “Picture This”- related advertising is pinned to Prime Video’s Instagram account and is posted on billboards in New York City. As of March 7, one day after its release, “Picture This” became the #1 movie worldwide on Prime Video.

The studio also organized events tailored to various audiences — like hosting both mother-daughter and LGBTQ+ screenings. This outreach demonstrates the breadth of representation of “Picture This” — and it’s something that Mohan is proud of. When it comes to South Asian representation, the movie is also a mark of the progress the industry has made in portraying the culture.

The movie “is a much more of a comfortable representation of the culture and who we are and taking up space in the world just as ourselves…,” Mohan said. “And it's not just in this movie. I think you could see that evolution in South Asian representation. I think people are making more stories that are representative and not just centering around the trauma of our lives.”

Mohan is still in touch with her Dodge College of Film and Media Arts community, and many of her classmates attended the “Picture This” screenings in the U.S. and abroad. Mohan’s classmates have remained close friends and supporters to her since her graduation, something she attributes to Dodge’s collaborative and uplifting program.

“I think the way the program is set up is that you're not pitted against each other, but you really are there to work with each other. And most of my friends are directors in the program,” she told The Panther. “And we all rooted for each other, and I think that was really, truly something very, very special about the Dodge program.”

“Picture This” is a rom-com that breaks new ground in South Asian film narratives and representation, and being a Chapman alumna, Mohan’s directing accomplishment is something for Chapman students to look up to. After a few busy years of pre-production, production and a press tour that just culminated, Mohan is due for a break — but she’s ready for what’s next.

“I'm taking a rest for the day or two, but you know, I'm ready to get back and direct… I really want to make something that I've written again,” she told The Panther. “I have a project that I have been nurturing for a while. It's set back in India where I'm from, so I really would like to get that off the ground. I think just to kind of go back to my roots and make something that's, you know, more personal.”

Students can watch “Picture This” on Amazon Prime.