Singer-songwriter Prateek Kuhad will make his feature-film acting debut in Drowning (Doobna in Hindi/Urdu), Marginal MediaWorks announced on 5 August 2026 (Variety).

Dar Gai directs the film, shot on location in New Delhi. Kuhad plays Tarush, an indie musician in Delhi who scores one breakout hit and then finds himself trapped by a criminal record label boss. The story draws its title and inspiration from Kuhad's own song "Drown," which he performed at Paste Studios in New York back in July 2018 (YouTube).

The collaboration carries a deeper history. Gai previously directed the music video for Kuhad's "Cold/Mess," a track that reached No. 1 on Spotify India and landed on former U.S. President Barack Obama's year-end playlist. The Gai-directed video was named Rolling Stone's Music Video of the Year (Variety).

Drowning is Marginal MediaWorks' first fiction feature produced in South Asia. The Los Angeles-based company partnered with D36, also based in Los Angeles, and Mumbai-based Jugaad Motion Pictures. The producing team spans all three companies: Sanjay M. Sharma (Marginal founder and CEO), Milan Chakraborty (Marginal head of film), Abhi Kanakadandila (D36 co-founder and CEO), and Jugaad co-founders Dheer Momaya and Dar Gai herself (Variety).

The film anchors a South Asia-focused push within Marginal's broader international slate, which also includes projects in Korea, Japan, Vietnam, Thailand, Europe and Canada. Marginal has produced more than a dozen features in over five years, including The Rose: Come Back to Me (a Tribeca 2025 Audience Award runner-up), Cypher (a Tribeca Jury Prize winner), and the horror title Camp (Variety).

Gai brings her own festival pedigree. Her film credits include Three and a Half, which streams on Netflix worldwide after a festival run, and Namdev Bhau: In Search of Silence, which played at Busan, BFI London and Palm Springs. She is a Ukrainian native long based in Mumbai. Jugaad Motion Pictures' Last Film Show was shortlisted for the international feature Oscar (Variety).

D36's roster spans South Asian-descent artists across the U.S., U.K., India and Pakistan, tying the production's partnership to the diaspora audiences the film is positioned to reach (Variety).

For Kuhad, the acting turn arrives on the heels of a busy music cycle. His third album, Full Moon Chamber, was released on 10 July 2026 via Atlantic Records. The record's second single, "If I Cannot Be Yours," had arrived a few weeks earlier in June (Cutcraft Music Group). Kuhad is represented by CAA and Big Bad Wolf India, with Everyday Rebellion handling his worldwide management (Variety).

For fans of the musician, Drowning offers a fictional mirror of the world Kuhad knows best — a songwriter navigating the machinery of the music industry, this time with a criminal edge. No release date has been announced.