After announcing nine Indian films like Bulbul Can Sing, Balekempa, Ottamuri Velicham in the Indian Gold competition section, the 20th Mumbai Film Festival unveiled the list of 14 films which make their India Story section. This section highlights stories from different regions around India to showcase diverse narratives.
The 14 titles include Devashish Makhija’s Bhonsle, Rajat Kapoor's crowdfunded dark comedy Kadakh, Vinu Kolichal’s Bilathikuzhal, Sangeeta Datta’s documentary Bird Of Dusk, Anupam Kaushik Borah’s Bornodi Bhotiai, and All India Bakchod’s first feature film, Chintu Ka Birthday by Satyanshu Singh and Devanshu Singh.
Aijaz Khan’s Hamid, Karan Chavan and Vikram Patil’s Imago, Pawan K Shrivastava’s Life Of An Outcast, Mansore’s Nathicharami, Anamika Haksar’s Taking The Horse To Eat Jalebis, Subash Sahoo’s The Sound Man Mangesh Desai, Swati Dandekar’s True Blue and Unnikrishnan Avala’s Udalazham will also be screened.
Ajji (2017) director Makhija’s next Bhonsle stars Manoj Bajpayee as a Maharashtrian police officer forced to become a retiree. Anupam Kaushik Borah’s Bornodi Bhotiai is an Assamese film about the Majuli people, their island and traditions. The filmmaker, a National School of Drama (NSD) alumnus, has written the feature himself and shot it on location.
Hamid, set in Kashmir, stars Rasika Dugal and Vikas Kumar with child actor Talha Arshad Reshi as Hamid. The young boy tries finding his missing father by dialing 786 on his father's phone to call God. Imago, directed by Karan Chavan and Vikram Patil, is about a young girl Namrata living in a village who struggles with image issues after she is diagnosed with vitiligo.
Pawan K Shrivastava's feature, Life Of An Outcast, features a Dalit farmer who has to arrange for bail money for his son, a mathematics teacher, who arrested. Mansore's Kannada film Nathicharami stars Sruthi Hariharan, Sanchari Vijay and Balaji Manohar while Sangeeta Datta’s documentary Bird Of Dusk gives an inner look at late filmmaker Rituparno Ghosh.
Theatre artist Anamika Haksar's intriguing film, Taking The Horse To Eat Jalebis, is about the migrants to Old Delhi has about 400 people. Another documentary, The Sound Man Mangesh Desai, by Subash Sahoo highlights a forgotten talent in the world of Hindi cinema who worked with filmmakers like Shyam Benegal to Manmohan Desai.
Produced by Doctors' Dilemma, the Malayalam film Udalazham by Unnikrishnan Avala tells the story of a young man who slowly realizes his sexual identity. And finally, Chintu Ka Birthday, by co-directors Satyanshu Singh and Devanshu Singh, stars Vinay Pathak, Tillotama Shome, Seema Pahwa in the first film by comedy group AIB.