Tumbbad (2018) cinematographer Pankaj Kumar will be making his feature film directorial debut with the tribal actioner Konyak, according to a report in Variety. The film is set in Northeast India and was selected for the National Film Development Corporation’s (NFDC) Screenwriters Lab 2024, as part of the Film Bazaar, a project under International Film Festival of India (IFFI), Goa.
It is written by Uddhav Ghosh and tells the story of a young tribal warrior who has some prophetic visions and must protect his family amidst a deadly conflict with members of another tribe. It will be shot in Konyak Naga and Hindi languages. Uddhav was inspired to write it based on his own travels in the region of Nagaland.
Pankaj is also known for serving as the cinematographer on films like Brahmastra Part One: Shiva (2022), Talvar (2015) and Haider (2014), among others. He has also shot for Raj & DK’s web-series’ Farzi (2023) and Guns & Gulaabs (2023). A web series, directed by him for Prime Video, titled Khauff is currently in post-production.
Konyak will be produced by Pankaj under his newly found production Jiboom Studios.