Photo Flash: First Look -Duane Adler's Dance Film HEARTBEATS

Myriad Pictures, Das Films and Bowery Hills Entertainment announced today that professional dancer Krystal Ellsworth who has danced in films Fame & Iron Man 2, rising South Indian star Amitash Pradhan (Vella Illa Pattathari), Paul McGillion (TOMORROWLAND, "Stargate Atlantis") and Daphne Zuniga ("One Tree Hill") headline the cast of the dance film HEARTBEATS, which is written and directed by Duane Adler. Justin Chon ("Twilight" franchise) and Indian familiars Salman Yussuf Khan (of #1 Indian dance franchise ABCD), Kishori Shahane and Mohan Kapur round out the cast. "Inside Edition's" Megan Alexander makes a cameo appearance. The film has just commenced production in Mumbai, India. Get a first look below!

HEARTBEATS tells the story of Kelli (Ellsworth), a feisty female American hip hop dancer who travels to India with her parents (McGillion and Zuniga) for a week long Indian wedding and falls in love -- both with a new style of dance and with a determined young man who introduces it to her (Pradhan).

The theme of the film is about two worlds colliding and will be Adler's second movie with a bi-racial romance since SAVE THE LAST DANCE which starred Julia Stiles. Adler also wrote and created the worldwide box office smash hit dance movies STEP UP, STEP UP 2, and most recently wrote and directed the dance movie MAKE YOUR MOVE for Lionsgate.

HEARTBEATS is being produced by Sriram Das (NOVEMBER MAN), Andrea Chung (SEOUL SEARCHING), and Karine Martin (MAINA). Myriad Pictures is selling international rights to the project in Berlin, with Myriad's Kirk D'Amico executive producing.

The film is being co-financed by Dance Network, whose founder Julie Stadler and CEO Brian Williams will serve as Executive Producers. Recently, Dance Network acquired and launched Skyway Studios in Nashville.

Jay-Z's Roc Nation is producing the original songs alongside composer Gingger Shankar (Academy Award® nominee for THE PASSION OF THE CHRIST); the soundtrack will feature traditional and current Indian music and American hip-hop and R&B. 2015 Emmy Winning choreographer for "Dancing With the Stars," Tessandra Chavez, is the supervising choreographer and two-time Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa winner Shampa Gopikrishna is the choreographer for the Indian dancing.

Adler is repped by Paradigm and Untitled Entertainment. Ellsworth is repped by Abrams Artists and Archetype.

Duane Adler: Duane Adler has an unmatched track record in creating contemporary, music-driven films. Duane's films have grossed over $550 million at the box office and he has written two of the highest grossing teen romances of the past 40 years in SAVE THE LAST DANCE (Paramount) and STEP UP (Touchstone/Summit). Both films rank in the top ten of all-time box office for the dance genre, with worldwide grosses of nearly $250 million. To date, the STEP UP franchise has grossed over $465 million (and counting) in theatrical box office worldwide.

Following these successes, he most recently wrote and directed the dance film Make Your Move, and was recently released by Lionsgate in the US.

Image credit: MYRIAD PICTURES

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