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India’s Gubbara Entertainment is launching a distribution arm, timed to the world premiere of its short film “Termite” at the Toronto Film Festival and a chapter of its Kashmir feature anthology “Muhabbat Se” at the inaugural
International Film Festival of Jammu and Kashmir.
The distribution push marks the next phase for Gubbara Entertainment, which is approaching its third anniversary. That effort dates to 2024, when the company set up a $1 million fund for script development at Cannes.
A chapter of the anthology will have its world premiere at the International Film Festival of Jammu and Kashmir on Sept. 8, ahead of a theatrical release in select cities via PVR starting Oct. 23. Among the anthology’s chapters is “Arifa,” directed by Rohin Raveendran.
Gubbara’s latest production, “Termite,” will have its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival. Kiterabbit Films and the Azim Premji Foundation partnered with Gubbara on the short, which comes from Academy Award-nominated filmmaker Shaunak Sen (“All That Breathes”), marking his move into fiction filmmaking.
“My ambition is to create and strengthen a pipeline. A slate is pointless unless it delivers. I want everything we create at Gubbara to reach an audience. That is how an independent production company becomes a sustainable creative business. Films languishing in hard drives is tragic,” said Dimpy Agrawal, founder of Gubbara Entertainment.
Agrawal came from a banking background before entering the industry, working at Phantom Studios, Dharma Production and Netflix ahead of founding Gubbara Entertainment in 2024. She has built the company’s strategy around financial sustainability, rigorous development, deep creator relationships and audience development through a bespoke distribution network.
“We are building capital around different stages of a project’s life cycle rather than waiting for studios or platforms to enter once a project is fully developed. Development is where we began but our financial strategy has now expanded to rights acquisition, release, and alternate distribution. I am creating infrastructure across these stages that is both scalable and can be replicated by other founders,” Agrawal said.
Gubbara has nine long-form titles in active development, has produced seven short documentaries, and has one fiction short and one anthology feature in post-production. The company has worked with six debutant filmmakers – Pearl Malik (“Delicate Darling”), Shaunak Sen (“Termite”), Nitin Baid (“Chashma”), Durgesh Singh (“Kashmir Willow”), Garima Sadhwani (“Khelne Chalogi?”) and Nandini Mahbubani (“Udd Chali Hoon”) – and five women filmmakers, including Archana Phadke and Parinaz Jal alongside Malik, Sadhwani and Mahbubani. Its long-form slate is set to roll out in 2027.
“I am not working with limitations of format or marketing buckets. Just because our long form slate rolls out in 2027 doesn’t mean I will not make short films. We run a short film fellowship. And I will continue to make them despite a robust feature and series slate. The features we are making have a pocket size the story demands. It will be hard to slot them and this is intentional,” Agrawal said.
Gubbara has focused on partnerships throughout its build-out, working with organizations including the Azim Premji Foundation as well as individual creators, and casting itself less as a conventional commissioning studio and more as an ongoing creative partner.
“I want the creators I work with to think of me first when they think about their next project. These are the kind of creative partnerships I nurture. The magic lies in finding the people who you can repeatedly create with,” Agrawal said.
The year ahead is pivotal for Gubbara, with collaborations involving streaming platforms, studios and major creators set to roll out as the company’s distribution strategy is tested.
“I believe in talking after the work is done. I am very proud of where we are at right now. I know where we want to be but I will always leave enough room for things I cannot apprehend right now. Some of our best has come out of being curious and intrepid. I am ready for the ride ahead,” Agrawal said.
