Prateek Kuhad, the Indian singer-songwriter known for hits including “Cold/Mess” and “Kasoor,” will make his feature film acting debut in “Drowning” (“Doobna” in Hindi/Urdu), Marginal MediaWorks has revealed.
Directed by Dar Gai and shot on location in New Delhi, the film marks Marginal’s first fiction feature produced in South Asia, in partnership with Los Angeles-based label D36 and Mumbai-based Jugaad Motion Pictures.
Kuhad plays Tarush, an indie musician in Delhi who lands one breakout hit and then can’t escape the grip of a criminal record label boss. Marginal founder and CEO Sanjay M. Sharma is producing with the company’s head of film, Milan Chakraborty, D36 co-founder and CEO Abhi Kanakadandila, and Jugaad co-founders Dheer Momaya and Gai, from a story the group developed jointly.
“The film is like if the Safdie brothers mixed John Carney’s ‘Once’ and Lars von Trier’s ‘Dancer in the Dark’ in the blender that is the contemporary music scene in Delhi,” Sharma said.
For Kuhad, the project grew out of an earlier collaboration with Gai, who directed the video for his song “Cold/Mess.” “Ever since Dar directed the video for ‘Cold/Mess’ I hoped we would find more ways to work together,” Kuhad said. “So when Abhi and Sanjay brought the idea for a film inspired by my song ‘Drown,’ I was immediately intrigued.”
