Sharda is expanding her international portfolio with a bold linguistic leap into French cinema, showcasing range that spans Bollywood to Hollywood to Aussie productions. Gera continues her trajectory as a boundary-pushing storyteller whose "Sir" found massive audiences on Netflix India.
Sources say this project represents Sharda's most ambitious role yet—a complete language immersion in Paris with an untested director on French soil. The cross-cultural romance angle has 'prestige bait' written all over it for awards season positioning, but whether the chemistry lands remains to be seen.
Production wrapped India leg and is currently shooting in France (per Variety, May 14, 2026). Gera's "Sir" premiered at Critics' Week during the 2018 Cannes Film Festival. Pre-sales locked with Canal+, Ciné+ OCS, and France Télévisions.
Sharda's divorce-to-Paris arc feels like calculated awards-bait wrapped in cross-cultural romance, but Gera's track record with forbidden connections gives this one real potential to deliver.
Pallavi Sharda is taking the leap. The Australian-Indian actress best known for supporting roles in "Lion" and "Tom & Jerry" has signed on to lead "Stay," a French-Indian co-production written and directed by Rohena Gera, currently cameras rolling in France after completing its India leg. For Sharda, this marks her first-ever role performed entirely in French—a significant creative gamble for an actress whose screen career has spanned Bollywood, Hollywood, British television, and Australian productions without ever venturing into Francophone cinema. In "Stay," Sharda portrays Sailee, the daughter of a wealthy Indian family who relocates to Paris following a divorce. The escape isn't just geographical—she's fleeing the suffocating weight of social expectations that came attached to her old life. Once settled in the City of Light, Sailee's path crosses with Léo, a delivery driver and dreamer played by rising French actor Julien De Saint-Jean. Their connection is described as an "unlikely bond" that gradually erodes the cultural and class barriers each character believed were immovable. Translation: classic forbidden romance with international flavor. Gera brings serious credentials to this cross-cultural endeavor. Her previous feature, "Sir," premiered in Critics' Week at the 2018 Cannes Film Festival, snagged the Gan Foundation Award for distribution, and went on to find a substantial audience when Netflix India picked it up. She also directed the 2013 documentary "What's Love Got to Do With It?," which screened at the Mumbai Film Festival. "Stay" marks Gera's first project set in France—where she now resides—and represents her most ambitious international production yet, backed by pre-sales with Canal+, Ciné+ OCS, and France Télévisions. The production is handled by Alice Bloch for Marianne Prods. in co-production with France 2 Cinéma, with Dominique Colin serving as director of photography. Sharda herself sits on the Screen Australia board and carries representation through ColorCreative, IMC, Insight, HillTop Entertainment, and Goodman, Genow, Schenkman, Smelkinson & Christopher. The cast may be small, but the ambitions are anything but—this is clearly a play for the global arthouse crowd with crossover appeal.
