{
  "id": 17799253,
  "title": "From Huma Qureshi And Mrunal Thakur To Nithya Menen And Shakun Batra, IFP Season 16 Sparks Conversations On Cinema, Creativity, Culture",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/11/02/from-huma-qureshi-and-mrunal-thakur-to-nithya-menen-and-shakun-batra",
  "topic": "culture",
  "section": "Culture",
  "published": "2026-11-02T12:41:52.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Free Press Journal",
    "slug": "free-press-journal",
    "url": "https://www.freepressjournal.in/entertainment/from-huma-qureshi-and-mrunal-thakur-to-nithya-menen-and-shakun-batra-ifp-season-16-sparks-conversations-on-cinema-creativity-culture"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "IFP Season 16 hosted a two-day gathering of influential figures from cinema and creativity at Mehboob Studios in Mumbai on October 24 and 25. The discussions covered a wide range of topics, including Huma Qureshi's interest in playing morally complex characters, Vetrimaaran's expansion of the Vada Chennai universe, Mrunal Thakur's role as a producer of a Marathi short film, Nithya Menen's thoughts on creative freedom in current cinema, Craig Mazin's comments on the backlash over The Last of Us Part II, Shakun Batra's exploration of AI's impact on filmmaking, Sujoy Ghosh's insights into the making of Kahaani and Badla, and Saurabh Sachdeva's unconventional path to acting. The festival also recognized winners of its six 50 Hour Challenges, which involved 44,752 creators from 411 cities across 35 countries, creating content in 23 languages. These challenges spanned various categories such as filmmaking, music, photography, writing, design, and performing arts.",
  "summary": "IFP Season 16 brought together some of the most compelling voices across cinema and creativity for two days of candid conversations, thought-provoking insights and exciting revelations at Mehboob Studios, Mumbai, on October 24 and 25. From Huma Qureshi expressing her desire to play morally ambiguous characters and Vetrimaaran discussing the expanding Vada Chennai universe to Mrunal Thakur…",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}