Nicholas Weinstock, the producer associated with the acclaimed series Severance, has joined the Indian fantasy-horror film Tongue, adding an established international production figure to a project led by actor-producer Sayani Gupta and director Krishnarjun. The Indo-Canadian project has been building industry interest through its development and festival-market connections, while its distinctive story brings together family secrets, an ancient language and supernatural danger.
The film takes its name from “the Tongue,” a mysterious ancient language at the heart of its mythology. The story centres on two estranged sisters who find themselves trapped inside their late grandmother’s crumbling mansion for a single night. Their attempt to uncover hidden truths about their family becomes increasingly dangerous as they encounter monstrous creatures and lethal traps within the house.
That setting gives the film a focused dramatic engine. The mansion is not simply a backdrop for supernatural encounters; it becomes the place where the sisters confront a history from which they have been separated. The forbidden language provides another layer to the mystery, tying the family’s past to the strange forces surrounding them and giving the horror a deeper narrative purpose.
Sayani Gupta’s involvement extends well beyond her performance. She stars as one of the central sisters while also serving as the film’s primary Indian producer. That places her at the intersection of the acting and producing teams, giving her a substantial role in shaping a project designed to bring Indian and international filmmaking interests together.
Tongue has also progressed through industry programmes intended to encourage such collaborations. The project earned a place in the South Asian Canadian Film Federation’s Indo-Canadian Producers’ Lab, providing an early platform for its development within the South Asian and Canadian filmmaking communities.
Its international industry journey has further included the Toronto International Film Festival’s official Indo-Canadian co-production market. The selection gives the project a place within a professional setting focused on cross-border filmmaking, helping position it for conversations with industry participants interested in international co-productions.
Nicholas Weinstock’s arrival adds another notable layer to that development. In comments reported by Variety, Weinstock spoke positively about working with Krishnarjun and Sayani Gupta, highlighting their talents and the opportunity to build a frightening world together. His interest reflects the creative potential he sees in the filmmakers rather than simply functioning as an additional producing credit.
For Krishnarjun, the project provides an opportunity to establish a distinctive directorial voice through a story that blends horror with fantasy and family drama. The filmmaker is responsible for translating the film’s unusual mythology and claustrophobic setting into a cinematic world where the sisters’ personal history and the supernatural threat remain closely connected.
The project’s appeal therefore comes from several elements working together without relying on a conventional horror setup. Its central relationship gives the story an emotional foundation, while the mansion creates physical confinement. The ancient language introduces a mystery that reaches beyond the immediate danger, allowing the family’s history to become part of the film’s larger supernatural framework.
The combination of these elements also explains why Tongue has attracted attention at the development stage. Rather than presenting itself solely as a creature-driven horror film, it uses its supernatural premise to explore a family mystery while operating within an Indo-Canadian production framework. The involvement of filmmakers from different backgrounds adds another dimension to that process.
With Nicholas Weinstock joining Sayani Gupta and Krishnarjun, Tongue now brings together an internationally experienced producer, an actor with a central producing role and a director developing an ambitious genre story. Supported by its industry-platform connections and built around an unusual piece of mythology, the film is taking shape as a cross-border fantasy-horror project with a clear creative identity and a story designed to keep its family mystery at the centre.
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