Chaar Diwari director Syed Shadan reveals how living in Mumbai's cramped houses inspired horror film | Interview

Syed Shadan, director of horror short Chaar Diwaari, talks about how urban Mumbai inspired the film.

Filmmaker Anurag Kashyap has backed and presented some of the finest independent films made in India over the last half-decade. His new presentation is Syed Shadan’s horror short film, Chaar Diwaari, which is set to have its North American premiere at the Fantasia International Film Festival 2026. Chaar Diwaari tells the story of an unnamed tenant who moves into a new flat, only to find that the walls keep shrinking and swallowing up his world. Ahead of the film’s premiere, the director Syed Shadan spoke to HT about its making, inspiration, and what it means to take Indian cinema global. Excerpts:

Chaar Diwaari, directed by Syed Shadan, premiered at the Fantasia International Film Festival.

HT: Your film had its North American premiere at Fantasia International Film Festival. What does that mean to you?

Syed Shadan: Earlier, I would have said that is a great stamp of approval, and it brings the film credibility. But now I think I have a greater understanding of what Fantasia has done for us: it has kind of brought us to a platform where we are in the same section as some of the best work from around the world. I was honestly blown away by what is happening in the world in the genre. I'm so excited to actually make something that stands out now, even on a platform where all these great filmmakers from all these countries are also playing alongside.

HT: As someone who has made films of this genre, what do you think our stories, our films, need to do in the fantasy, thriller, horror genre to match up to the kind of content that you are talking about?

Syed Shadan: It could sound a little philosophical, but I really mean it that we as creatives need to be more honest with ourselves. What I mean by that is that we really need to be honest about what we are scared of and what our fantasies are. Only when a vision from somebody who has actually felt the horror of something is extrapolated into a fictional medium and made into a short film or a feature film is it actually effective. You need to be scared in order to tell a scary story. A lot of times, people end up writing or making for what the viewer would be scared of. That, I think, is the fundamental shift that we need to make.

Syed Shadan's horror film, Chaar Diwaari, deals with claustrophobia.

HT: Coming back to the point that you made, that you can only project that horror onto the fictional space if you have sort of felt that fear. Where did you bring the horror for Chaar Diwaari from?

Syed Shadan: I am somebody who moved to Mumbai from Raipur. Back home, everybody has their houses with two floors. And from there, I came to a city where three people share a 400-ft² apartment. The film is a reflection of how I have come to terms with the lack of space in a city like Mumbai. And also know the rigmarole the city puts you through, this tribulation of then going house to house looking for the perfect fit and then being rejected because you don't fit a certain mould that the owner has.

HT: Shorts can have a very cash-strapped production, where you make do with whatever little you can get. How did you go about making this film, which requires changing a house's shape and size?

Syed Shadan: It's self-funded. We wanted to make one short film that looked good, sounded good, and had the best technicians we could get. But of course, we didn't have uh the money for all of that. Some people put in a good word for us. Sanyukta Kaza, a very big editor in the industry, came on board as an editor, and Shajith Koyeri, the sound designer for Manjummel Boys and many other Hindi and Malayalam films, also joined. Most of these people didn’t charge us anything.

The biggest challenge was getting the house and actually shrinking it. Our production designer, Akshata Goyel, stepped in, and she was pretty confident that she'd be able to build fake walls inside a house. We eventually found one where the family was overseas, but their 89-year-old grandmother was living in the house. She was actually in the house while we were shooting the film.

HT: What's next for this film?

Syed Shadan: So, we have sent our film to a bunch of festivals. Since we're at one of the top three festivals in the genre, we also hope to play at the other two: Fantastic Fest in Austin, Texas, and Sitges in Catalonia, Spain. In India, we have applied to several film festivals and hope to attend and connect with audiences as well.