Payal Kapadia and Anurag Kashyap Back Prateek Vats' New Film as Cineroost Joins

Kavita Gupta's U.S.-based Cineroost has boarded Prateek Vats' second feature, "Chronicles of a Confession," as producer, joining executive producers Payal Kapadia and Anurag Kashyap on a project that starts shooting in early November.

Cineroost will handle global representation and U.S. markets and helped push the film into production. The picture is the company's next feature after Vir Das' "Baara Number."

Penned by Vidur Nauriyal, Vats and Shubham, the drama follows a Kashmiri shawl seller who admits to a crime he did not commit, triggering a chain of events nobody saw coming. The Busan International Film Festival selected the script for its Asian Cinema Fund, under the script development strand.

Who is making the film?

Ranjan Singh of Flip Films ("Songs of Forgotten Trees," "Vagachipaani") produces alongside Dubai's Action Filmz, India's Etched Films and Khan & Kumar Productions ("Lovers in the Blue Night"). The producing and creative base stretches across India, the U.S. and the U.A.E.

Kashyap, who was involved in Vats' first film, said the director had spent a long time on a script he envies. "I almost want to steal it. And since I can't, I have jumped on board as an executive producer," Kashyap said. "It is an honor to associate with someone as great as Payal Kapadia who I have seen sticking to her voice and her ground as a filmmaker and then there is my own producer Ranjan Singh. What was there in this to not want to be part of it."

The crew includes:

• Anand Bansal ("Dhuin," "Gamak Ghar," "The Elephant Whisperers") as cinematographer
• Rajesh Thanickan ("Santosh," "Homebound") as supervising producer
• Devika Dave ("Boong," "Sherni") on production design
• Himani Dehalvi ("Trial by Fire") on costumes
• Bigyna Dahal ("The Fable," "Khauff") on sound design

Where does Vats come from?

Vats broke through with "Eeb Allay Ooo!," which world premiered at the Pingyao Film Festival in 2019 and won the Golden Gateway award at the Mumbai Film Festival that year. The film screened at the Berlinale in 2020 and at Tribeca's first online edition.

"Prateek's films mix humor and political commentary in a unique way which I have always admired. And this new project takes this to an even higher level," Kapadia said.

"'Chronicles of a Confession' has been brewing for some years and I am thrilled that it is going on floor now," Vats said. "The film solidifies my collaboration with producer Ranjan Singh, who has been with me since my debut feature, 'Eeb Allay Ooo!'"

Why did Cineroost come on board?

Gupta's earliest film projects, 13 years ago, were with Kashyap, and the two have remained close. "Strong writing, the best creators and a stellar global creative team, everything about this film aligned with my vision for Cineroost – rare, global and rooted," Gupta said.

The film marks the second major step in building out Cineroost's slate.

"Business from films is not for my sustenance but really for my soul and passion," Gupta said. "I find that to be a strength in the work I do in the creative world. I have the privilege of flirting with risk more than others."

"A lot of my work for South Asian talent and projects has been under the radar," she added. "I felt time has come for me to take bigger steps and come out from being in the shadows to do what I love, nurturing creative voices, enabling stories that matter and building bridges between divergent worlds."

With a camera-ready script, a Busan pedigree and a trio of high-profile backers, "Chronicles of a Confession" now enters production as one of the more closely watched Indian independent titles of the season.