Prarthana Mohan’s film ‘The MisEducation of Bindu’ revolves around an Indian American teenager

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When it came time for Indian American director Prarthana Mohan to make her new film, she said, “it’s time to reinvent the high school feature movie by breaking tropes and featuring characters that would only typically appear on the sidelines.’

“The MisEducation of Bindu” is about a 14-year-old Indian American girl named Bindu (Megan Suri), who “has a different trajectory to growth than the usual nerd to prom queen” and lives somewhere in Midwest America.

The film also stars David Arquette, Priyanka Bose, Kelly Ryan, Hannah Alline and Robert T. Bogue.

Filming began last month with an intention to submit it into film festivals early next year with a theatrical release and a video on demand later on.

According to an Indystar report, Mohan describes Bindu as an “intelligent, energetic 14-year-old from a conservative Indian family who tries to balance her heritage with the realities of being a 21st-century teenager in the U.S.” and wanted a relatable storyline.

“High school is so universal, but most of the stories are about Caucasian males, and women and girls go through adolescence just as crazy and hard as boys do. There’s really not a lot of stories (about) people of color or immigrants. Why not take a stab at it with a different point of view?” she told Indystar.

Mohan was born and raised in Chennai, India and she completed her MFA in film production with an emphasis in directing at Chapman University in California and has received the Leo Freedman Award for excellence in visual storytelling.

Her thesis film “Turn Around” was showcased in the Cannes Short Film Corner and screened at multiple film festivals.