EXCLUSIVE: Korea’s Finecut is teaming with the UK’s Rook Films and India’s Reel Illusion Films to co-produce Indian horror title The Profane, written and directed by Sidharth Srinivasan.

Finecut has also picked up international rights excluding India to the film, which marks a highly unusual collaboration between East Asia, South Asia and Europe.

Scheduled to start shooting early next year, the macabre horror follows a brother and sister who accompany their ailing mother to spend her final days in the Indian city of Varanasi. But on arrival, the mother falls into a coma sparking a deadly conflict between the daughter, who wants to help her mother die, and the son, who sinks to grisly depths to keep her alive.

Srinivasan will produce through his Reel Illusion Films with Pete Tombs and Andy Starke of the UK’s Rook Films and Finecut’s Youngjoo Suh as co-producer.

Rook is a co-producer on UK director Ben Wheatley’s Kill List (2011) and Sightseers, which is screening in this year’s Directors Fortnight. Wheatley will executive produce The Profane for Rook.

The project also has Benoît Debie (Irreversible) on board as DoP, Dan Martin (The Wolfman) as SFX supervisor and Adil Hussain (Life Of Pi) to play one of the main characters.

One of India’s hot up-and-coming indie filmmakers, Srinivasan previously directed drama Soul Of Sand, which premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2010 and was later picked up by Global Film Initiative for North American release.

“Traas [the original Sanskrit title meaning dread] is the realisation of a long-cherished dream of mine – to make a truly original Indian genre film that is steeped in my own context yet has strong universal appeal owing to its emphasis on character and familial relationships,” said Srinivasan

Starke said: “Traas is totally unique. We’re hoping for a film that will be as much of a stab in the heart for the genre movie as Ring and Audition were in the late 90’s and Old Boy and I Saw The Devil have become. Finecut is the perfect partner for Sidharth’s incredible movie.”

Finecut’s Youngjoo Suh said: “This is exactly the kind of project that we’ve been looking out for. This oriental edgy gory horror will evoke sorrow and fear from within the deepest part of one’s mind. And I am certain that this will become one of a kind genre film that embraces both west and east.”

Topics