Kavita Gupta’s U.S.-based Cineroost has boarded Prateek Vats’ second feature, Chronicles of a Confession, as producer, joining Payal Kapadia and Anurag Kashyap on the project. The film starts shooting in early November.
The producing stack
Cineroost will handle global representation and the U.S. market, while also helping move the film into production. It is the company’s next feature after Vir Das’ Baara Number. Kapadia and Kashyap serve as executive producers.
The producing and creative base extends across India, the U.S. and the U.A.E. Ranjan Singh’s Flip Films produces alongside Dubai’s Action Filmz, India’s Etched Films and Khan & Kumar Productions.
Key crew
- Anand Bansal is behind the camera; his credits include Dhuin, Gamak Ghar and The Elephant Whisperers.
- Rajesh Thanickan is supervising producer.
- Devika Dave handles production design, Himani Dehalvi costumes and Bigyna Dahal sound design.
The story and its festival path
Written by Vidur Nauriyal, Vats and Shubham, the drama centres on a Kashmiri shawl seller who admits to a crime he did not commit, kicking off a chain of events nobody saw coming. The script was selected for the Busan International Film Festival’s Asian Cinema Fund under its script development strand.
Vats broke through with Eeb Allay Ooo!, which world premiered at the Pingyao Film Festival in 2019 and took the Golden Gateway award at the Mumbai Film Festival that year. It went on to screen at Berlinale in 2020 and at Tribeca’s first online edition.
Kashyap said Vats 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,” he said. Kapadia added that Vats’ films “mix humor and political commentary in a unique way,” and said the new project “takes this to an even higher level.”
Gupta described the project as aligned with Cineroost’s slate: “Strong writing, the best creators and a stellar global creative team.” She said feature work is driven by passion rather than sustenance, which she called a strength in the creative world.
Why the packaging matters
The announcement is less a single production notice than a blueprint for how Indian independent titles are being assembled now. Buyers see a festival-credentialed director, two executive producers with global recognition, a U.S. sales entity, and production partners in the UAE and India. The Busan script fund selection acts as early validation before a frame is shot.
For distributors and festival programmers, the next markers are simple: the November shoot, the first footage, and how Cineroost positions the title in U.S. and global markets. Vats’ first feature made the leap from a regional festival win to Berlin and Tribeca, which sets a high bar for the second outing.
Source: Variety
