Delhi’s everyday chaos is the trigger for black comedy “Tyres Will Be Deflated,” the debut feature from filmmaker Rohan Ranganathan.
Developed by Shaunak Sen and Aman Mann’s Kiterabbit Films, the award-winning production house behind Academy Award nominated documentary “All That Breathes” and Berlinale 2025 title “Shadowbox.” The project makes its market debut at WAVES Film Bazaar, the market component of the International Film Festival of India (IFFI), Goa, where the team is seeking early financing and partnerships.
In the film the life of a conflict-averse college professor begins to unravel over a seemingly trivial, but increasingly hostile, parking dispute with his powerful neighbor. What starts as a petty territorial conflict mutates into a spiralling cycle of retributions, escalating from passive-aggressive jabs to acts of destruction and ruin. As the feud intensifies, the professor’s attempts at maintaining dignity and order collapse, dragging him toward an absurd, self-inflicted downfall.
Producers say the film taps into the volatile micro-politics of middle-class Delhi, where cramped urban living, social hierarchy, and everyday stressors can turn the mundane into the combustible. “Rohan has an instinctive grasp of this world,” says producer Aman Mann. “For years he’s told us stories from his neighborhood – each one more ridiculous, more sharply observed than the last. We knew these anecdotes were the seed of a story that could be wickedly funny and painfully honest.”
Ranganathan has a decade-long association with Kiterabbit, joining as an assistant director on the acclaimed documentary “Cities of Sleep.” He later served as associate director on “All That Breathes,” which won best documentary at both Sundance and Cannes. “From his earliest days on the film, we witnessed his strong creative instincts and deep understanding of Delhi’s milieu. Supporting him as he steps into fiction feels like a natural evolution,” says Mann.
In the scripting stage, Kiterabbit Films is developing the project in-house, with plans to move into production in the second half of 2026. WAVES Film Bazaar marks the team’s first stop in securing financing.
Having previously produced “Shadowbox,” Mann and Sen say they are exploring multiple financing pathways and hope to build an international partnership model. Kiterabbit Films is currently developing projects that have received grants from IDFA, Catapult, Doc Society and Busan’s Asian Cinema Fund.
