Film and music have always existed in dialogue with one another. Both are narrative forms, but their power multiplies when they converge, be it music videos that have become an art form in their own right iover the last few decades or the background scores that have come to define entire films and remain inseparable from their identity. This interplay is not only about entertainment but about building narrative architectures that immerse us in alternate realities. In contemporary culture, where artists are increasingly drawn to world-building, these intersections open up possibilities to tell stories that neither medium could ordinarily hold alone.
'KALA PANI' steps firmly into this space. A first-of-its-kind project in Indian independent music, it is an animated sci-fi short film accompanied by a full hip-hop album, created over seven years by rap artist Poetik Justis with the support of more than fifty collaborators across music, sound, visual art, and production. Emerging as a multimedia release, the project is an attempt to rethink how an artistic idea can be experienced.
The project exists in three simultaneous forms: an album streaming via digital platforms, a free short film premiering on YouTube, and a live performance experience that extends the work beyond screens. This triad — digital, visual, and physical, positions Kala Pani as a 'phygital', undertaking, reflecting the conditions of being an artist in the 2020s, caught between virtual immersion and the search for tangible presence.
Created by two animation teams from Gumblue Studio and Studio Zeng, the film itself is set in Neo-Bombay, a parallel universe where a musician confronts the mystery of disappearing artists. At its core lies 'Kala Pani', a drink that gifts unusual abilities to creative minds. Built on this premise, the project touches on themes that feel urgently contemporary: the influence of generative AI, the grip of screen addiction, mythology and philosophy reframed in digital contexts, and the challenges of sustaining meaning in a system that prizes metrics over substance.
The live aspect of Kala Pani are its most radical gesture. Rooted in Mumbai’s history of raw underground sounds, long overshadowed by the city’s film industry, the performances are designed to reconnect audiences with the visceral, communal energy of music. Supporting this is NO FUTURE, a newly formed nu-metal band that reinterprets Kala Pani’s sonic world in forms that exist only on stage. In doing so, they thread Mumbai's heavy music lineage into the present, bringing together the city’s past and contemporary identities.
The project will debut at antiSOCIAL, Mumbai on September 11, through a film screening, album launch, and live performance. As a first step, it is a strong one: establishing Kala Pani as a world to be entered. In its form and creative ambition, it is an exciting reimagination of what it means to create art in an age where boundaries between mediums, platforms, and realities are increasingly blurred.
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