New Delhi: A24 has officially wrapped production on the period drama, The Peasant. The film marks a historic milestone as the studio’s first-ever production to shoot in India.
Written by British actor Dev Patel, the film serves as his second directorial effort following his 2024 debut with Monkey Man. The Peasant’s filming concluded this month after an extensive shoot across Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, and Rajasthan.
Patel will pull double duty, as he also stars in the lead role alongside Animal (2023) fame Saurabh Sachdeva, as well as Anasuya Sengupta, Christian Friedel, Sebastian Bull and Vipin Sharma, who is reuniting with Patel after Monkey Man.
Inspired by a script by Will Dunn, who had envisioned the story to be set in medieval Italy, The Peasant even earned a spot on the prestigious 2023 Black List, an annual collection of unproduced scripts. Patel, however, reworked the screenplay and shifted the location from Italy to India.
Co-written by Patel and Dunn, the film “follows a 14th-century shepherd seeking revenge against mercenaries who ravaged his community. As he hunts them down, his true nature emerges.”
The Hollywood Reporter has described the film as “adrenalised revenge thriller” with shades of “Braveheart and John Wick as well as notes of King Arthur.”
Production house A24 landed the project for a reported $30 million following a bidding war last year. With Dev Patel co-producing the film under his Minor Realm banner, along with Basil Iwanyk, Erica Lee, and Charlie Morrison of Thunder Road Pictures. The Peasant marks a reunion for Patel and Thunder Road Pictures, the production house behind Monkey Man.
(Edited by Insha Jalil Waziri)