India and UK-based boutique studio Flick The Switch has boarded Bengali film Porichoi, directed by Rupali Guha, as co-producer and sales agent for English-speaking territories.

The start-up studio will also arrange gap financing and marketing for the independent production. Flick The Switch founder and CEO Sheena Morjaria negotiated the deal with Porichoi producer, Soumo Ganguly of Mumbai and Kolkata-based Moxie Group. “We will see Porichoi through from filming to theatrical release and beyond,” Morjaria said.

Starring Prosenjit Chatterjee, Ferdous Ahmed and Joey Debroy, Porichoi is currently being filmed in the UK and India for release next year.

Flick The Switch is also co-producing and selling UK-India co-production Sashti, to be directed by John Huddles (The Philosophers).

Morjaria started her company in 2005 to source financing for documentaries and feature films. She previously produced Tom Donahue’s documentary Guest Of Cindy Sherman and worked on the international marketing of Sidharth Sharma’s action thriller Arjun & Alison.

“Sidharth had a completed film but did not know what to do next. This seems to be a common problem. We marketed the film, represented it and are about to close a deal for VoD and DVD distribution rights,” Morjaria said.

Flick the Switch’s other co-production projects include Rod Vallis’ Cowboys And Indians, Kamal Musale’s The Hermit and the Ketan Mehta’s Noor, based on the true story of international spy Noor Inayat Khan. All three are projects in development.

Morjaria plans to raise finance for the three films through stock markets, private equity, pre-sales and by leveraging the UK’s Enterprise Investment Scheme (EIS).