Day 1
“It is really interesting to see how people are policed by borders, all of which materialize in different ways – through boats, rivers, seas, even security forces! Having read about Char and its people before, I’ve wanted to put a face to the displacement there, and this documentary helps me do exactly that. It humanizes the story of suffering and pain.”
— David Singh, Researcher, on Char…The No Man’s Island
“What struck me the most while watching the film was the idea of hope, even in the most desperate circumstances. I guess it is hope that keeps people alive. The film raises many issues- ecological and political; questions of citizenship; questions of law and crime; and the meaning of belongingness. But to me, the film is really about hope and what hope does and how it shapes human lives.”
— Ishan Mukherjee, Professor, on Char…The No Man’s Island
“There was a montage in the beginning of the movie, which was one of the folk songs that they were playing, aligned with visuals of utter carnage and violence during the war of liberation in Bangladesh. That stayed with me throughout the film and after it, because it captured a certain sort of absurdity that war in itself is. It correlates with borders because we can quite literally see them crossing the borders between East Pakistan and Bengal at the time. There is a saying that art should comfort the oppressed and disturb the comfortable. This is why the film stays with me, as it confronts all of these questions.”
— Utkarsh Bagaria, Student, on Muktir Gaan
“I think the soundscape of the film is very haunting, particularly the sound of Earth giving way to the water in areas which are affected by erosion is also a metaphor for the precarity and for the transience of what we hold on to. And, we hold on to a piece of land and the land, in turn, controls our identity or nationality. So, you know, like the shifting sand of the char or of the river, our identity also keeps shifting.
I can’t imagine how or when we started using the word ‘illegal’. I mean, it is illegal to use the word ‘illegal’ for human beings. I mean, how can a human being be illegal? We say illegal immigrants, and they are literally… a few kilometers from where they ancestrally were. But we— we are constantly moving. I mean, the human race is a migratory race. Everyone’s migrated!”
— Kishalay Bhattacharjee, Professor and Dean, on Char…The No Man’s Island
“One really cannot say they’ve really ‘liked’ a film like this, which documents human rights violations, misery, and war. At the same time, I am deeply moved by the tangible frames and close-ups. The film has deeply affected me, and I feel inspired by the fact that art becomes one of the means by which people survive difficult times.”
— Arjun Singh, Student, on Muktir Gaan
“It was such a great film. And it showed you Pakistan… like a cultural space rather than a political one, which we usually see. And of course, Coke Studio is something so incredible…. And now you can see what it means; you can go behind the scenes and see how much work is put into it, highlighting the cultural side of Pakistan. They mentioned in the film …how Pakistan after 9/11 had been seen as this land of terrorists, but no, it was also something else. It was also these musicians, these artists…”
— Komal Godara, Student, on The Journey Within: The Origin Story of Coke Studio
“Noor Islam, the second film we watched in the theatre, sort of broke my heart. I didn’t know about all the struggles people are facing in my own country, and I need to think about it more. I just want people to live a happy life in India. It’s a democratic country, and people are supposed to live well, but still so many are facing great difficulties. I just pray for their peace, and I will make sure that I work for them in the future.”
— Lucky Singh, Student, on Noor Islam
Day 2
“I really liked the use of music in the film, the continuous use of music accentuating both the humour and the seriousness of the topic. The director has done a great job with the way the graphics have been implemented as a sort of break from all the seriousness and from every profession, so that the audience has some room to breathe… It’s a film, very well done!”
— Oleksandra, Student, on Working Girls
“I think the one thing that stuck with me from Working Girls was, like the director said, the solidarity that it represented, and even how the witty remarks represented their narrative. I feel like it really helped carry the narrative forward and go back and forth between serious topics and clearly explain them.”
— Pratha Nayak, Student, on Working Girls
“I really liked the flow of the film, especially with the use of humour in the movie and the fact that there were very complex concepts introduced in the film, yet very naturally and cohesively tied with humour.”
— Aditi Sonthalia, Student on Working Girls
“I think the film fits right in with our film festival, which [is organized around the theme of borders]. Basically, if you think of borders, the first thing that comes to your mind is conflict and tension, and Battlefield picks up the biggest tension that the World has seen, which is World War II. So in that sense, the film, very aptly, falls into the place of the theme of the film festival really well.”
— Venu Arora, Professor, on Battlefield
“I think the one scene which lingers with me is the constant use of the scanner, which was also in the trailer. What came after it is what lingers with me, the one particular point where they are searching for remains of the clothes, belts, the buckles, the buttons. I think it’s a powerful imagery, because you can’t show what exactly happened, and that leaves so much for one to understand what war does.”
— Abhija Ghosh, Professor, on Battlefield
“This film really touched me, and it explored various emotions. It was comprehensive in its approach. The way it is portrayed, how much the survivors’ lives are affected: really got to me and says a lot about the intent of the film.”
— Siddham Pandey, Student, on Battlefield
“I loved the direction, the way the director used the drone shots, the travelling, the conversations, paying homage, and [portrayal of] emotions. The film was fantastic. I loved the way he set the narrative; he didn’t miss out on any community, be it the survivors, the British, the Japanese and Manipuri people. The transitions [were striking], especially that part where it was showing planes flying over Manipur, and then it smoothly transitioned into a vintage scene that quickly shifted to modern times. I love the fact that he has put in years of research [into] executing the whole project.”
— Kshitij Sancheti, Student, on Battlefield
“For me, the film itself left me with a lot of questions about form and treatment because at some levels, I felt that some of the scenes were kind of set up, and that made me feel a little uncomfortable, but clearly there was a lot of pathos behind the kind of memories that all the characters in the film shared.”
— Kabir Bhatnagar, Student, on Battlefield
I think this film was very important because it complicates the understanding of happiness that we normally have. It shows us that happiness is something that is extremely impermanent and is interspersed with different emotions like grief, loneliness, injustice and various other things. The best thing it does for me is that it doesn’t seek to provide a concrete definition of what happiness is. So, happiness is something that looks very different for each person, and that is shown really beautifully through the different stories and personas that we have seen in this particular documentary.”
— Chenab Guha, Student, on Agent of Happiness
“For me the most touching part of the documentary was the relationship dynamic between the transgender character and her mother who was suffering from cancer…especially the mother telling her daughter to believe in herself and accept herself as she is, for she is beautiful and loving… this is not everybody’s cup of tea. I feel as though that is the part I’ll be carrying with me, and that was very hard-hitting, personally. I loved when the director said that happiness cannot be measured, yet this movie was a realisation that everyone throughout their lives tries to find their own scale and kind of happiness. We must learn to make ourselves feel happy, for life is too short to live in sadness.”
— Bhargavi Cen Arora, Student, on Agent of Happiness
“I think, despite Bhutan’s being one of the happiest nations, as it’s also mentioned in the documentary, [the film depicts] this sort of disparity between the people of the nation and how the government views the nation… Having lost three family members in the past 2.5 years, I think that grief is a major part of the film, which stays with me the longest because it really does get alone and lonely. Some points from every character [are relatable]… such as having to worry about your sick parents or not being able to find love. I think it’s about juggling everything life throws at you.”
— Pia Khurana, Student, on Agent of Happiness
“Firstly if I had to talk about the festival [beyond] the films of course, it would be the whole experience of watching films with other people in a room full of film enthusiasts, getting to hear the shared moments of laughter, the candidness of people, them being themselves as they experience the documentaries … Other than that, if I talk about the technical aspects of the documentaries, I personally feel that more than any type of equipment, be it cameras, sound systems, recorders, etc., the relation/bond you share with the people on the screen, the authenticity of it is more important than any devices or gadgets. Even if there are imperfections, it adds to the film. This film festival has made me think in so many different ways than I usually do. It has changed my perspective. For instance, with the film Working Girls, when looking at the broader message it wants to send out, it really speaks about how everybody is trapped in this system, within structures created by the government…. It made me question my own morality and what I thought was right or wrong.”
— Aarya Desai, Student, on Kos Minar 2026
Day 3
“So this is a border that I am very familiar with, you know, I have walked along many parts of the border… But that scene, I think, where people are meeting each other, exchanging gifts, but they’re not being able to hold hands, because they now live in two different countries, separated by a barbed wire—I think that is a very telling sequence and story in itself, which should be burned in our memory. You know: lives that exist, and have been separated by a wire, and you can’t do anything about it.”
— Kishalay Bhattacharjee, Professor and Dean, on Borderlands
“I think the film explores borders through a very different lens, going beyond just the political or geographical connotation of it, also abstaining from portraying the hyper masculine viewpoint [seen in] conventional media. Like, for example, when we look at the narrator’s mother, we see her perception of borders, we see the mental borders that society has imposed on her. And we also see people who are trying to break out of these. And another visual that really stayed with me is the one where people from Bangladesh and West Bengal are exchanging gifts across the barbed wires, which shows that no matter what political decisions are taken, you cannot sever love. You cannot sever ties.”
— Chenab Guha, Student, on Borderlands
“It was a beautiful film. Sadly, it was a beautiful film [and also] difficult to watch. And we were discussing [the director’s] use of music. So the translation didn’t do justice to his poetry. But the moment we heard him speak, [we could tell] he is a good poet.”
— Prof. Supriya Shukla, Professor, on When Pomegranate Turns Grey
“I was feeling deeply touched by this movie because it talks about a really important and pivotal time in India’s history, that is, Operation Polo. However, [mentions of] Operation Polo have been reduced to statistics and confined to history books [all this time]. But this documentary shed light on the human aspect of the entire operation of how bloodshed was caused, how families were torn apart, and how people have still not been able to reunite after years and years of Hyderabad being “liberated” from the Razakars.”
— Samagra Thakur, Student, on When Pomegranate Turns Grey
“My favourite scene from the film Taangh was when this particular moment where a character was kissing these framed photos repeatedly and getting really emotional about everything, and he was sharing how friendship remains in the heart. I don’t remember exactly what he said, because I was too busy crying, but I think that was a moment where everything just came crashing down; I realised that our definition of borders, not just India/ Pakistan, but especially so, has largely changed because of this film, at least for me personally. So by the end of it, instead of being left with questions, I was actually filled with answers that I never thought that I needed. So, I think that is why that one film and that one scene from that film is what made it all come down.”
— Bhargavi Cen Arora, Student, on Taangh
“So what resonated the most with me about Taangh was that it was very real and very personal. It made me remember my grandad, who is from West Bengal, so I wonder what his story might be or his dad’s story, and also kind of reminded me of my dad who recently passed away. Yeah, it was really personal, and I love the movie. It was, like, more like a… vlog and not, like, a documentary, but I love that she made it into a documentary so that others could get to know the story; sharing that level of personal information is hard for people. So, I’m just really glad I got to watch it.”
— Bhoomika Banerjee, Student, on Taangh
“I think the theme of friendship resonated with me the most. I mean, in today’s time, we see friendship as something very common, but it really reminds me of that line that ‘dost hota nahi har haath milane wala.’ So, despite barriers, the borders, the distance, the lack of contact…the way friendship remains in their hearts, even after years of separation. And the sheer, pure feeling that we could see in their faces, in their eyes, the way both of them just went blank, and the way, he knew that, the way he knew that his friend would just cry upon hearing that he had cried, and upon hearing that his daughter met him…”
— Siddham Pandey, Student, on Taangh