The first Indian fiction short to go to Sundance film festival in 15 years! The second fiction short from India to have ever been selected in the history of the festival! Only film (feature or short) representing India at Sundance this year!

Niche ad production house CATNIP’s first passion project – a 15 minute short film named ‘Counterfeit Kunkoo’ featuring Kani Kusruti and Vijay Varma, has made it to Sundance Film Festival ’18.
The film written, directed and edited by Reema Sengupta is the official selection in the International Narrative Shorts competition. Sundance will be the world premiere of the short film.
Counterfeit Kunkoo Poster

Counterfeit Kunkoo Poster

‘Counterfeit Kunkoo’ is a narrative drama set in Mumbai that speaks about housing discrimination, marital rape and reclaiming one’s sexuality.

Brief description of the film: In a city that houses millions, Smita finds herself fighting beasts of a different kind as she discovers a strange pre-requisite to renting a house in middle-class Mumbai. She would make an ideal tenant – except for one glaring flaw. She is a middle-class Indian woman without a husband. An intimate perspective on the ‘ideal Indian female’ in urban India.
Sundance Film Festival 2018 will take place in Park City, Utah, USA from 18-28 January.
Speaking about Sundance’s short films selection this year, Mike Plante, Senior Programmer for the Sundance Film Festival, said, “We are always thrilled to discover new voices in filmmaking through the short film program: they take risks in story and style you might not expect.”
Speaking on the announcement co-producer of the film Kunal Punjabi said “It was unreal to see the passion with which Reema – the writer director and editor of the film – approached every aspect of the short film. The emotional stakes were high and the shooting conditions very difficult. It was also an absolute pleasure to see so many people coming together and helping with the film, only out of the faith they had in her vision. We couldn’t be happier to see a small Indian short film get recognized on such an enormous scale, and hope it’ll inspire more young filmmakers to push themselves.”
Reema Sengupta

Reema Sengupta

Talking about the the announcement the writer-director-editor of the film Reema Sengupta shared:

“It feels really surreal that the world is taking notice of a small indie short film we made hustling in some claustrophobic lanes of Mumbai.

We are the official selection in the International Narrative Shorts competition. Sundance will be the world premiere of the short film.

We’re absolutely thrilled! This is a huge deal! Sundance is one of the largest and most selective film festivals in the world. This year, out of 9000 short film entries, they chose less than 1% – only 69 shorts. Also, Counterfeit Kunkoo is the first Indian fiction short to be an official selection at Sundance in 15 years. We’re also the second Indian fiction short to get selected to Sundance ever. The pride of representing our country is immense, as is the responsibility.

Counterfeit Kunkoo is a 15 min narrative drama that talks about housing discrimination, marital rape and reclaiming one’s sexuality. It is an intimate perspective on the idiosyncrasies that come with the misogyny that seeps into our everyday lives.

Making this film has been an intensely personal experience, from the inspiration for the film to the way it was executed. A small crew of family and close friends worked tirelessly in very difficult shooting conditions to make this film happen. We have two phenomenal actors in the film – Kani Kusruti, a critically acclaimed film and theatre actress from Kerala, and Vijay Varma – best known for his performances in Pink and Monsoon Shootout.”