“They do it without even consulting anyone else. “Cinemas are not opening and a lot of people are making films, but producers are seeing very easy profits selling the films to OTT platforms,” said Kashyap. The filmmaker is skeptical about the current business model for films in India as cinemas are yet to reopen because of the ongoing pandemic. “She’s been totally supportive and I think we’ll do a lot of movies with Cult,” said Kashyap. They co-produced “Lootera” (2013) and “Udta Punjab” (2016) but not with Kashyap as director.

Kapoor had been wanting to work with Kashyap ever since he made “Dev.D” a dark take on “Devdas,” a much-adapted classic of Indian literature. We are hopeful that Cult Movies will be a disruptor in the content space while we continue to work with new age writers and directors.” The rebranding of Alt Entertainment to Cult Movies ensures that the legacy of new age, avant-garde films continues and we aim to bring and promote relevant and genre-bending stories. “ALT was the flag bearer of new age cinema with films like ‘Love Sex Aur Dhokha,’ ‘The Dirty Picture,’ ‘Shor in the City’ among others under its umbrella. “Cult Movies was launched to carry forward the legacy of our previously successful and clutter breaking brand ALT Entertainment,” Kapoor told Variety.

“Dobaaraa” is jointly produced by Cult Movies, an offshoot of uber-producer Ekta Kapoor’s Balaji Telefilms, with Sunir Kheterpal for Athena and Gaurav Bose of The Vermilion World. “I’m glad someone like Anurag who is always known to do something radically different, is part of it.” That time zone, and this is this word, this time zone,” said Pannu. “We are jumping 20 years back and forth, and 20 years ago India was very different when we were growing up - the visuals, the technology, the looks of the streets, the way people were is very different to what India is right now, so it gives you a very distinct visual to present and hence it becomes easy to communicate to our audience that this is that world. The actor says that audiences used to watching all kinds of subjects during India’s several lockdowns are now receptive to a wider range of subject matter. “Time travel or two time zones connecting is not new from an international point of view, but from an Indian point of view it is new, because we haven’t seen much of it in mainstream Hindi cinema,” Pannu told Variety.

Anurag kashyap films