Nov 26 2025 to Nov 26 2025 6:30 p.m.

Where

Bangalore International Centre

7 4th Main Rd, Stage 2, Domlur 560071

Event Description

130 minutes | Hindi with English subtitles | 2024 | India

In a landscape of shifting sands, a community enclosed into numbered grids, with no names, only coordinates, rehearses its music in villages like 1 PB, a small dot in the Thar desert on the Indian side of the India–Pakistan border.

This region is home to the Mirs, a Muslim community who are custodians of a timeless poetic tradition and practitioners of a music that transcends quam (religion) and desh (nation). But as the land has degraded and boundaries have hardened, their music has softened into a near whisper.

The film gathers songs, poems, and lived memories to create a portrait of musicians striving to keep their inheritance of Islamic Sufi and Hindu Bhakti traditions alive.

The film has been featured at several major festivals, including the 17th International Documentary and Short Film Festival of Kerala, the Indian Documentary Film Festival Bhubaneswar, the 14th Dharamshala International Film Festival, and the 29th Ji.hlava International Documentary Film Festival.

Following the screening, Surabhi Sharma and R V Ramani will join an in-person conversation moderated by Pallavi MD, with Amala Popuri and Diksha Sharma joining virtually. The session will conclude with an audience Q&A.

In collaboration with:

Speakers

Surabhi Sharma
Independent Filmmaker
Surabhi has been an independent filmmaker making feature-length documentaries and short films since 2000. Her documentaries, fiction, and video installations engage with cities in transition using the lens of labor, music, and migration. 

Surabhi is Associate Professor of Practice at the Film and New Media program and is currently serving as Associate Dean for the Arts and Creative Practices at
the New York University Abu Dhabi, UAE.

R V Ramani
Cinematographer
R V Ramani studied Physics at Mumbai University and began his career as a photojournalist in Mumbai. He later graduated from FTII, Pune, in 1985 with a specialization in Motion Picture Photography. After moving to Chennai, he worked as a cinematographer on numerous films while also independently creating films that explore diverse modes of expression.

Amala Popuri
Sound Designer
Amala Popuri works in fiction and non-fiction films as a sound recordist, mixer, and designer. She has collaborated with Dibakar Banerjee, Prashant Nair, and several arthouse filmmakers, and was part of A Man Who Knew Infinity. She received the IRAA Award for Kadakh (2019) and Best Sound Design at IEFFK for Body (2025), which she also produced. Amala has also mentored students at FTII, Srishti School of Design, and Maisha Lab.

Diksha Sharma
Film Editor
Diksha Sharma graduated in Film Editing from SRFTI, Kolkata. She has edited documentaries, fiction series, short films, and video installations, and has directed ad films.

She is currently the Artistic Director at DRI, where she leads programmes—including DocedgeKolkata, the Letsdoc Fellowship, and Documentor—that support and grow the documentary ecosystem in India and Asia.

Pallavi MD
Singer, Composer, Actor, Editor, Sound Designer and Filmmaker
Pallavi MD is a singer, composer, actor, editor, sound designer and filmmaker. She has been performing Kannada poetry (bhavageethe) across Karnataka and abroad for the last twenty five years. She has been awarded the prestigious Ustad Bismillah Khan Yuva Puraskar (National Award) for her contribution to the field of Bhav Sangeet (singing poetry). In 2024, she has composed music for the Broadway play ‘The Vanishing Elephant’. In 2024, she designed the music for ‘Banjara Virasat’, an experiential museum that documents the life and culture of the Banjara community. Her collaborative LP with German musician Andi Otto, ‘Song For Broken Ships’ was nominated for the prestigious German Record Critics’ Award in 2024. Her collaborative Single ‘Simchezo’ won the Best Composition Award from international collaborative platform- Beyond Music in 2024. She has a band Kayaka , ancient progressive lyrics set to modern progressive music with singer/guitarist/composer Bruce Lee Mani.