Kuku, the digital entertainment company behind platforms such as Kuku TV and Kuku FM, has announced its debut film production, titled Indian Institute of Zombies. Also known as IIZ, the film is directed by Gaganjeet Singh and Low Gravity Productions' Alok Dwivedi from a screenplay by Hussain Dalal and Abbas Dalal. Also credited for the upcoming film's dialogues, Hussain and Abbas are known for their contributions to titles such as Farzi and Brahmastra: Part One – Shiva.
Indian Institute of Zombies features actors Jessie Lever, Anupriya Goenka, Mohan Kapur, Ranjan Raj, Shivani Paliwal, Shantanu Anam, Rose Sardana, Sachin Kavetham, and Tanishq Chaudhary, among others. Set in an engineering campus, the film offers a blend of youthful humour, zombie horror, and social satire, and it is billed as an energetic theatrical experience.
While Hussain and Abbas have penned the screenplay for the film, its story was developed as an in-house project at Kuku itself.
Speaking about his company's evolution and the upcoming film, its CEO Lal Chand Bisu said, "Kuku has always been obsessed with how India consumes stories. We built scale in personal consumption through Kuku FM and created a new microdrama category in India with Kuku TV. Theatres for us represent the next frontier and we are excited to make our first steps in it. Indian Institute of Zombies marks the first of our many, rooted in youth culture, genre innovation and mass Indian tastes."
Meanwhile, Kuku's Senior Vice President and the film's producer Kunj Sanghvi stated, "Indian Institute of Zombies is a film for everyone who has ever been on a college campus. We hope our audiences get to experience their adventurous and brave side as they watch this hilarious film on zombies. We observed the success rates of Horror Comedies at the cinemas, the lack of a breakout Indian Zombie film yet and the insatiable appetite for campus stories across age groups in India."
Notably, the creators have made use of AI at various stages of the film's development, right from its conception to the budgeting process and more.
Speaking about this, Kunj Sanghvi added, "We don’t see AI as a replacement for creativity, but more as an amplifier. By deeply integrating AI into our filmmaking process, we’re able to iterate faster, visualise better and make sharper decisions earlier."
The film is slated for a May 08 release in theatres.