Taangh
Director: Bani Singh
Year: 2021
Country: India
Language: Hindi, English, Punjabi, Urdu
Duration: 75 mins
Taangh, or “longing” is a poignant exploration of memory, friendship, and the enduring scars of the 1947 Partition. After her father, Grahanandan “Nandy” Singh, a legendary hockey player, suffers a stroke that leaves him unable to speak, director Bani Singh embarks on a journey to retrace his days of glory as a member of India’s first post-independence gold-medal-winning team at the 1948 London Olympics, where it defeated England, its erstwhile coloniser. Beginning as a deeply personal documentary about a daughter’s attempt to understand the champion her father once was, the film soon shifts from a sports retrospective into a moving exploration of pre-Partition friendship. Through interviews with surviving teammates, the film uncovers memories of a shared life in pre-partitioned Lahore and friendships maintained across newly divided nations. The documentary captures the raw emotions of a generation still negotiating with the trauma of loss and the persistent yearning for a lost “watan” (homeland). It serves as both a historical record of India’s first post-independence sporting triumph and a heartbreaking meditation on the human cost of borders. Taangh won the awards for Best Documentary Feature at the 2022 New York Indian Film Festival and the Ram Bahadur Trophy for Best Film at the 2022 Film South Asia Festival in Kathmandu.
About the Director
Bani Singh
Bani Singh studied at the National Institute of Design and after working in furniture and space design for a few years, specialised in Museum studies. She worked at the Virasat-e-Khalsa museum in Anandpur Sahib, Punjab, as a gallery visualiser and content interpreter. For the last couple of years, she was senior faculty at Srishti School of Art, Design and Technology. Taangh (Longing) is her first film.
Meet the Director!
Bani Singh is visiting the festival on 22 March 2026!