While

making the “The Road Home,” I saw the potential in expanding the short into a feature film. Working with my screenwriting partner (Andreas Eigenmann), I’ve turned Pico’s story into a coming-of-age, adventure road movie. Although the feature script is faster paced than the short, it stays true to the “flavor” and themes of the original film. Here’s a preview of the storyline:

“Where are you from?” is not an easy question for ten-year-old Pico to answer. “England” is how he usually responds, even though England is just one of many countries he has lived in. This is incomprehensible to his new schoolmates who strip him completely naked and paint him white, all because Pico dares to say, “I’m not Indian. I’m British,” despite his Indian looks.

With life becoming unbearable in his new Himalayan boarding school, Pico sees no other way than to escape from the school to get back to his parents in England. He runs away with Rachel, a spirited American teenager, who is worried about her father - an expat businessman in Delhi - after she learns about a failed murder attempt on his life by a rebel, separatist leader.

As the two kids travel through the Himalayan landscape, the rebel leader’s right-hand man gets wind of their escape and dispatches a kidnapper to hunt them down, hoping to use them for blackmail against Rachel’s father.

Soon, the kids are sucked into a wild chase across a country they do not know. Their struggle to get home – and to survive – takes them on a journey that will shape their lives forever. Rachel discovers a frightening but exciting world beyond her sheltered upbringing, while Pico grows into an identity that goes far beyond his British passport, English mother tongue, and Indian skin color.

But with their lives in danger, will Pico and Rachel evade the kidnapper and find their way home?

My slideshow depicts the larger visual canvas of the feature film and showcases some of the locations where I plan to shoot.