EXCLUSIVE: Ali Fazal and Tillotama Shome will star in Past, a horror-thriller set within the Himalayas from writer-director Sumit Purhoit. Chippy Babu and Abhishek Sharma’s Mumbai-based TrainTripper Movies is producing alongside Mario Stefan’s fieber.movie out of Munich.
Set in a ghostly Himalayan city, the film is billed as an exploration of delusion, reminiscence, and locations left behind.
Purhoit, a BAFTA Breakthrough honoree, has a private connection to the subject material and setting on condition that he comes from a small city within the Himalayan mountains. He writes and directs.
“Like many others from the area, my aspirations led me to maneuver away in the hunt for alternatives,” he mentioned concerning the movie. “This fixed migration has left many hill settlements slowly turning into ghost cities and villages, abandoned by their individuals. One such place, forgotten and frozen in time, is the setting for my movie Past.”
He added: “Native legends and myths additionally encourage the narrative. Whereas it unfolds as a thriller horror, its essence lies in capturing the desolation of the place.”
Fazal is thought for Prime Video’s Mirzapur and flicks together with Victoria & Abdul. “Not often do us actors get an opportunity to dive deep into narratives… and narratives and landscapes resembling Past, the place you don’t really feel shy in opening your self as much as a journey that can form up some type of creation,” he mentioned.
Tillotama Shome’s credit embody Monsoon Wedding ceremony and Delhi Crime. She mentioned the theme of escape is writ massive in Past. “For all those that left for a greater life someplace else and for all those that refused to go away, this story ties us all collectively in a fable each mild and horrific in equal measure.”
Cameras roll on the film in winter 2025-26, the producers mentioned. It’ll movie within the Himalayas.
Mario Stefan of fieber.movie added: “South Asian narratives possess a novel, haunting spirituality the place concern is formed by way of delusion, ritual, and cultural reminiscence. As a European producer, I’m thrilled to be a part of this deeply resonant and culturally wealthy venture.”
“Once I first learn Past, I used to be struck by its chilling ambiance and haunting visible journey,” mentioned TrainTripper’s Babu. As a producer, I’m drawn to tales the place the visuals linger lengthy after the dialogue fades, the story’s chilling ambiguity and its refusal to supply straightforward solutions. It’s a deeply native story with common questions at its core, exploring what it means to exist in isolation whereas surrounded by echoes of the previous.”