VMPL
Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], September 8: Independent storytelling platform STRT91 has launched UNRELEASED – Inki Kaun Sunega?, a 30-minute documentary that goes contained in the Vile Parle Cypher, one of many metropolis’s most energetic, most unbothered-by-fame rap communities. Directed by Imran Shamsi and produced by What Works, the movie follows rappers who spend their weekdays delivering milk, cooking, guarding gates and working deliveries, and their weekends doing one thing the business by no means gave them permission to do: standing in a circle, in public, and saying precisely what’s on their thoughts.
The movie premiered on August 15 on the STRT91 YouTube channel and is on the market to look at at no cost worldwide.
Watch UNRELEASED: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cJjVGN1HpJg
THE FILM THAT WASN’T SUPPOSED TO EXIST
Imran and his group went to Vile Parle to shoot a reel. They left with a documentary.
At the centre of it’s Kuldeep, 20, the rationale the cypher exists in any respect, he began gathering rappers with nothing however phrase of mouth, and admits on digital camera that for a very long time, he did not inform his mom it was occurring. Not as a result of it was flawed. Because he did not wish to hand her another factor to fret about.
That’s the entire movie in a single confession: younger folks discovering someplace to place what they’re carrying, quietly, earlier than anybody tells them they’re allowed to.
What started with a handful of strangers standing in a circle is now a Saturday ritual, a rotating stage for younger artists throughout town, every one displaying up for themselves in entrance of people that may, by the tip of the night time, turn out to be buddies. The solely rule: present up, deliver your phrases, hold rapping.
The Camera Points Where Hip-Hop Documentaries Usually Don’t
Most hip-hop movies chase the celebrities, the labels, the arenas. UNRELEASED goes the opposite method, into gullies, onto pavements, into cramped houses, and lets rappers speak about identification, household, starvation and ambition not as a filmmaker’s theme, however because the life they’re already in. No studio lighting. No stylised edits. No business standing between the artist and the mic.
‘These younger artists do not want sympathy. They want an viewers. I hope this movie provides them one.’ – Imran Shamsi, Director
Director’s Note – Imran Shamsi
‘I’ve spent most of my profession directing campaigns and branded movies for among the greatest names in leisure. But this movie jogged my memory why I fell in love with storytelling within the first place. We went there simply to shoot a 90 second reel. Then we met Kuldeep. Then Ayan. Then Pannu. Then dozens of youngsters standing in a circle, ready patiently for his or her flip. Nobody had requested them to come back. Nobody was paying them. Nobody was promising fame. Yet each Saturday, they confirmed up. That’s after I realised the story was by no means about rap, it was about folks discovering dignity by way of expression.’
Imran Shamsi is the founding father of What Works, a Mumbai-based manufacturing home whose work spans documentaries, branded movies and promoting for Aamir Khan Productions, Red Chillies Entertainment, Yash Raj Films and Sony Pictures. He additionally directed Spotify’s quick documentary on Emiway Bantai, and Behind The Beats: 25 years of Lagaan.
Editor’s Note – Ninoshka Andrade
‘Usually you are chasing the cleanest body, the smoothest transition. Here, the imperfections grew to become the language of the movie, a shaky cellphone recording, somebody forgetting their lyrics, a crowd shouting over one another, silence after a tough line. We needed the viewers to really feel like they weren’t watching performers, however standing contained in the circle. We did not attempt to make them look cool, we simply discovered what’s cool inside them. Hopefully, by the tip, it feels much less such as you found rappers, and extra such as you met folks.’
Ninoshka Andrade is Creative Director at STRT91 and edited UNRELEASED, weaving documentary footage, road recordings and interviews right into a single narrative.
Why STRT91 Made This
STRT91 exists on one perception: the streets of India already maintain extraordinary tales, somebody simply has to cease and hear. UNRELEASED is the platform’s first main impartial documentary, and its clearest proof of that perception but. The group did not must journey throughout the nation to seek out their topics. They discovered them a couple of kilometres from house, in a public floor in Vile Parle, the place each weekend, a circle of unknown rappers passes round a mic and no one’s checking who’s well-known.
From Private Screening Rooms To A Free Public Release
Before its public launch, UNRELEASED was previewed at intimate business screenings hosted at Aamir Khan Productions and Excel Entertainment’s Lightbox Preview Theatre, bringing collectively filmmakers, musicians, writers, journalists and members of Mumbai’s artistic neighborhood. It premiered publicly on 15 August 2026 on the STRT91 YouTube channel, launched free, worldwide.
Hrishi Okay- Radio & Podcast Host
This is the type of factor that’s so wanted. Something from the streets. Something straight from the guts. It’s counter-cultural. It’s the best possible. And I really like the truth that all these rappers are recognized by their pen names and the way they go on the market and categorical themselves. It’s such a beautiful method of expressing your frustration. And, I feel Kuldeep, who was one of many primary characters, was proper. He says phrases are free. Use them.
Kautuk Srivastava- Comedian
It was one of the vital inspiring and shifting issues I’ve watched in a really very long time. There’s a lot expertise round, it must be on condition that one push. I hope we get to see extra of those type of movies.
ABOUT STRT91
STRT91 is a storytelling platform documenting India’s road tradition by way of unique movies, documentaries, images and short-form storytelling – the folks, locations, artwork, music, meals and communities that make India’s streets extraordinary. YouTube: youtube.com/@STRT91 | Instagram: instagram.com/strt.91
ABOUT WHAT WORKS
What Works is a Mumbai-based manufacturing home creating ads, documentaries, branded movies, music movies and digital campaigns. Founded by Imran Shamsi, the studio has labored throughout leisure, movie and model storytelling with main Indian studios and international manufacturers.
thisiswhatworks.in
MEDIA CONTACT
Shivangi Chaturvedi – PR & Promotions, STRT91 / What Works
Email: [email protected]
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