Anand Gandhi releases poster of his next 'Emergence'

While it is based on the current times, "Emergence" sheds some light on life in the post-pandemic world.

Talking about the project, Anand said: "In 'Ship of Theseus', the character Charvaka says, 'The fungus enters an ant's body through its respiration. It invades its brain and changes how it perceives smell because ants do everything they do from their smell of pheromones, right? So this microscopic little fungal spore then makes the ant climb up the stem of a plant and bite hard on a leaf, with an abnormal force'.

"The fungus then kills the ant, and continues to grow, leaving the ant's exoskeleton intact. So, a small fungus drives an ant around as a vehicle, uses it as food and shelter and then as the ultimate monument to itself.

"And when the fungus is ready to reproduce, its fruiting bodies grow from the ant's head and rupture, releasing the spores, letting the wind carry them to more unsuspecting food.

"There, our entire idea of free will down the bin. One single small fungus spore does that to an ant. You have trillions of bacteria in your body. How do you know where you end, and where your environment begins?"

With this idea as the central question, Anand started writing "Emergence" in 2015.

"After five years of intensive research and writing, the project is now ready for production. It's the ultimate distillation of all my life's epiphanies and insights," he said.

He is also known for films like "Tumbbad" and "An Insignificant Man".