HOLIZOMB

Film / Fiction / Guerrilla


In 2015, I wanted to push the envelope of Guerrilla filming by using the festival of Holi and the city of New Delhi during it as a backdrop for a fiction film / music video hybrid. There was zero budget and just a wild idea. I asked a few friends for help and they were kind enough to be part of the project.

Holi is a traditional festival of colour but in the modern era it is a day of vices and debauchery. The premise of the project was that humans are so wild during the festival that if we had literal zombies walking the Earth on the day, one would not be able to discern. 

The story is set in a time when a H1Z1 zombie flu [ inspired by the H1N1 swine flu] outbreak has led to an pandemic. Several patients were infected and only 2 survived. The only way infected patients can sustain life is by being in the presence of another infected patient. This leads to two patients escaping a facility and traversing the town in search of each other, giving a flavour of what the city is like during the festival - all with its traditional street celebrations and modern electronic music festivals.

Cast:
Karuna Ezara Parikh
Shivam Tiwari

Camera:
Abhijay Gupta
Arjun Bhasin
Akshat Nauriyal

Music + Sound Design:
Samar Garewal

Color Grading: 
Sajid Akbar

Edit: Akshat Nauriyal 

Producer:
Uday Jhala

Director:
Akshat Nauriyal

Special thanks to:
Suryakant Sawhney 
Rohan Kulshreshta
Holi Cow Festival