Margarita with a Straw

Shonali Bose began working on a story in January 2011, on what would have been her son's 17th birthday (he had died the year previously). She worked on the first draft extensively for about a month. Although the main character of Laila is based on her cousin Malini Chib, a disability rights activist, the narrative follows Bose's own experience of losing a family member. She acknowledged the difficulty of incorporating elements from her personal life into the story, calling it a "tough emotional journey".[5] The idea of working on a film about disability was conceived during a casual conversation between Bose and her aunt (Chib's mother), who wanted her niece to work on a similar project aimed at creating awareness regarding the subject.[4] Having grown up in the same household as Chib, Bose was familiar with the discrimination faced by people with disabilities. She was especially intrigued by the general ignorance exhibited towards the sexuality of people with disabilities, and therefore decided to incorporate it into the narrative.[6]

Bose later adapted the original draft into a feature film-length script for Margarita with a Straw with co-writer Nilesh Maniyar. In 2012, the script won the Sundance Mahindra Global Filmmaker Award.[4] As part of the prize, the duo were awarded mentorships from the Sundance Institute's staff and creative advisors, and participated in a Feature Film Program Lab, which is where Bose decided to modify the story.[7] After being told by the advisory board that she was "not in the skin of the character", Bose decided to rewrite the script from her own perspective, instead of solely trying to incorporate Chib's point of view. She said that only after winning the award she incorporated—albeit unconsciously—her experiences as a bisexual woman in India into the narrative. Bose and Maniyar worked for two years on the script as it went through over forty revisions before becoming the final screenplay.[4]

William Moseley plays the love interest for Koechlin's character

Bose originally intended to cast actors with the same disabilities as the characters of Laila and Khanum. Since there were no actresses with cerebral palsy in India, she held auditions for the role in institutions that catered to patients, but could not find a suitable person to play the central role. Bose also had a meeting with a blind actress in her early thirties to discuss the role of Khanum, a character she associated herself with. The actress refused to pursue the role, being uncomfortable with the sexual content of the script. She nevertheless helped Bose by assisting Sayani Gupta, who was eventually cast as Khanum.[6]

Having decided to cast a professional for the part of Laila, Bose approached Kalki Koechlin, who she said was her "first and only choice" for the role.[8] Since Koechlin was still shooting for Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani (2013) at the time, Bose began looking for other actresses to play the role, but felt that "something was missing" in each one. She eventually decided to push the filming back for three months to accommodate her first choice.[9] Koechlin admitted that the role was the most challenging of her film career and she took six months to prepare for it.[10][11] She underwent a six-week training workshop with actor Adil Hussain, which was aimed at making her "body language seem natural", while also focusing on the speech pattern of patients with cerebral palsy.[12] Koechlin spent considerable time with Chib and her physiotherapist and speech therapist. She also attended a month-long workshop in Delhi, where she worked on body part movements.[13] Although the film addresses aspects of the challenges of physical disability, Koechlin dubbed it "a romcom within some hurdles".[13] Bose too described the film as a coming-of-age story about a "woman's journey of finding love".[14][15]

Maniyar, who also served as the casting director for the film, contacted Gupta for the role of Khanum while she was working on the travel show Yeh Hai India Meri Jaan. Immediately drawn to the character, Gupta agreed to audition and was cast for the role after a lengthy selection process that lasted about a month.[16] She said in a later interview that she had felt fortunate to have bagged the character of Khanum.[17] To prepare for the role, Gupta stayed blindfolded while doing daily activities such as cooking and bathing and spent time with a special voice and accent trainer. She also attended classes at the National Association for the Blind, where she learned basic braille.[18] Revathi, who had previously played a mother to a young child with cerebral palsy in Anjali (1990), agreed to play Laila's mother after reading the script.[19] William Moseley was cast as Jared, a British student in Laila's class.[17]

The latter half of the film is set in Greenwich Village, New York City

Principal photography for Margarita with a Straw began in 2013 and took place at New Delhi and New York with two separate schedules. Anne Misawa worked as the director of photography.[8][20][21] While the first half of the story is set in the Shri Ram College of Commerce of Delhi University, it was mainly filmed at Miranda House.[22] Students and staff members from institutions such as Ramjas College and Lady Shri Ram were involved actively in the project. Tenzin Dalha—a final year political science student from the former—played one of Koechlin's love interests in the film, and Shuchi Dwivedi from the latter played Koechlin's best friend. Other students from the university were cast as members of a local band, which also included Dalha and Dwivedi. Koechlin's father was played by Kuljeet Singh, an English Literature professor from Sri Guru Tegh Bahadur Khalsa College.[22]

Set in the neighbourhood of Greenwich Village, the second half of Margarita with a Straw was shot during the summer in New York.[6] Filming took place at Roosevelt Island and Coney Island.[23][24] Snow machines created the artificial environment required for various sequences set during winter season. The crew faced difficulties in filming certain scenes. At one point, the van that was used to carry Koechlin in her wheelchair broke down and had to be manually stabilised during the shoot.[25] Prior to the filming of the sex scenes, the cast attended workshops to develop a better understanding of emotional and sexual intimacy. Moseley, who was especially anxious about his scenes with Koechlin, attended a workshop conducted by Bose herself.[6] The complete film was shot in two months.[26]

Margarita with a Straw was selected for the National Film Development Corporation of India's Work in Progress Lab initiative during post-production in 2013.[24] It was edited by Monisha Baldawa and the sound mixing was done by Resul Pookutty and Amrit Pritam.[1] Certain scenes with frontal nudity were removed during the editing process to avoid a conflict with the Central Board of Film Certification.[27] Produced by Viacom18 Motion Pictures and Ishan Talkies, in association with Jakhotia Group and Adapt, the film's final cut ran for a total of 100 minutes.[1] Bose had funded the project herself as Viacom18 covered only half the estimated ₹65 million production cost.[2] Another partner withdrew financial support around ten days prior to commencement of filming. Bose had to apply for a personal loan to pay the bills, but was able to complete the film with support from the crew members, who agreed to their payments being delayed.[15] The international distribution rights for Margarita with a Straw were acquired by Wide Management, a Paris-based sales-production-distribution house.[1]

Margarita with a Straw received positive reviews,[53][54] with some describing the film as "wonderfully liberating"[55] and "an achievement [for Indian cinema]".[56] Particular praise was directed towards Koechlin's performance and Bose's sensitive depiction of cerebral palsy.[53][57] Saibal Chatterjee of NDTV lauded the honest depiction of disability and was pleased with how Laila's handicap eventually ceases to matter.[58] Baradwaj Rangan similarly found Bose's treatment of disability and normalcy refreshing: according to Rangan, "there's not a trace of stereotype, not a shred of self-pity" in the characterisation, and the most remarkable thing is that "Laila isn't a differently abled person. She's a person who is differently abled [...] human being comes first, the condition only later".[59] Firstpost's Deepanjana Pal was especially impressed by the sex scenes, which conveyed a "tenderness towards the on-screen lovers" without being weird or coy.[60]

Koechlin's performance was acclaimed, and she received several accolades, including a National Film Award

Koechlin's performance as Laila drew a lot attention from film critics,[61][62][63] who variously attributed her screen appeal to the lack of acting pretence[60] and her "understated artistry".[64] Venky Vembu of The Hindu wrote that Koechlin lent "such verisimilitude to her portrayal of a person with cerebral palsy, that you forget [...] that she's an able-bodied actress".[64] Writing for The Commercial Appeal, John Beifuss compared Koechlin's performance to Eddie Redmayne's portrayal of Stephen Hawking in the biopic The Theory of Everything (2014). He wrote that her performance would have attracted Academy Award notice in a major film studio production.[65] This view was echoed by other writers as well.[59][66] The supporting cast also received positive reviews. Revathi's "finely nuanced"[67] portrayal of a mother was lauded, and her performance was singled out as "[more] compelling"[68] than any other in the film. Writing for the Los Angeles Times, Gary Goldstein offered a mixed response to the production, but wrote that "it's hard not to be captivated" by Koechlin's and Gupta's performances.[69]

Observers also praised the film's technical aspects, while ascribing its appeal to its script, which was "emotionally arresting and startlingly revelatory"[58] and "straight from the heart".[70] Bose's direction was praised for its restraint and its "luminous austerity"[56] and the "expert use of emotions and moments".[71] Many also highlighted the cinematography and commended Misawa for her "judicious work"[70] and "charming frames lit up with an almost dream-like, soft light".[55]

Commentators such as Shilpa Jamkhandikar of Reuters and Mihir Fadnavis of Firstpost were critical of the change of tone and hurried narrative in the film's second half.[72][73] Although the latter was pleased by the film's first half, he thought that after a "glorious, powerful beginning, Bose fails to figure out a proper resolution".[73] Devesh Sharma was critical of the film's scattered plot in his review for Filmfare. He wrote that it "skips and jumps from one plot point to the other", leaving the viewer unsatisfied.[74] Jamkhandikar similarly noted that Bose introduced "too many contrivances and conflicts" in the narrative.[72]

Margarita with a Straw released in India on around 250 screens.[2] After collecting the meagre sum of ₹5 million (US$63,000) on its opening day, the figures began to grow over the following days, largely because of positive word of mouth. The film collected improved totals of ₹7.2 million (US$90,000) on Saturday and ₹9 million (US$110,000) on Sunday bringing the opening weekend collections to ₹21.2 million (US$270,000).[75] It faced competition from other productions including Mr. X, and previous releases Ek Paheli Leela, and Detective Byomkesh Bakshy! in its opening weekend at the box office, but was expected to do well because of the positive reviews. The first week's numbers held steady at ₹32.4 million (US$410,000).[76] The film did particularly well in urban areas like Mumbai and National Capital Region where it collected ₹19 million (US$240,000) and ₹15 million (US$190,000) respectively.[2] This trend was analysed by Shobha De as marking a "dramatic shift in urban audiences' tastes". She made note of the newfound acceptance of unconventional and sexual themes in Indian cinema.[77] Margarita with a Straw grossed a total of ₹74 million (US$930,000) during its theatrical run.[2]

Bose won the NETPAC Award at the Toronto International Film Festival.[78] The production was subsequently awarded the Audience and the Youth Jury prizes at the Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival and the Vesoul International Film Festival of Asian Cinema, respectively.[79][80] Koechlin won several accolades for her performance, including the Best Actress Award at Tallinn, the Screen Award for Best Actress, and the Jury Award at the 63rd National Film Awards.[81][82] She also garnered nominations for Best Actress at the Seattle International Film Festival and the Asian Film Awards.[83][84] McCleary won the Best Composer Award at the latter ceremony.[85][86]