After winning attention at international film festivals, debutant director Kaushal Oza’s Little Thomas, starring Rasika Dugal, Gulshan Devaiah, and child actor Hridansh Parekh, is finally heading to Indian theatres. “It is a film about family,” Oza tells mid-day, describing the children’s film as tailor-made for Indian audiences.

When Devaiah first heard the script, he compared it to RK Narayan’s Malgudi Days. “I knew in that instant that Gulshan got the tone of the film. And I thought Rasika would be perfect to play Jessie,” says Oza. Dugal, who fell in love with the script, even volunteered to learn the piano for her role, he adds.