Spot didis and sisterhood — Chunni’s journey to New York Indian Film Festival

A young girl seeking her parents’ nod for a fun evening with friends only to be reprimanded is a tale familiar for many. Yet when filmmaker Kaashvi Agarwal pitched it to writer, and now producer, Jiya Bhardwaj, it stuck.

“If you’re a woman anywhere in the world, you’d relate to it,” she said, speaking of her latest short film ‘Chunni’ (15 minutes), which is set to premiere at the New York Indian Film Festival (NYIFF) that begins May 28.

Having assembled an all-woman crew, the duo was ready to tell the story of “how women feel about their existence in a world still largely driven by men and their perspectives”. Was finding a woman to pan the camera or edit the final cut hard? No. “The day I made those calls, I remember hearing yells, gasps, shrieks, excitement. Every woman said yes in a heartbeat,” Bhardwaj recalled.

Set in Delhi, the film tells the story of Avni, played by Preeti Panigrahi, whose excitement for a school party quickly turns into a tense, all-too-real nightmare.

It’s a story that resonates well beyond its urban setting, as Bhardwaj pointed out, but the choice of location was still conscious, “Our cast and crew come from Delhi, and that’s why we were able to pour so much of ourselves into the film. We all understood the feeling of stepping out — the routes you choose, the calls you make, the clothes you rethink, the constant negotiation between freedom and caution.”

There was no negotiation during the filming process though. With spot didis wo-manning the filming locations, the team felt the safest they ever had — even during late-night shoots, wearing whatever the dresses of their choice. “We could focus entirely on the work. We kept joking that we were building a cinematic sisterhood,” that’s how the producer viewed it.

Despite the NYIFF selection giving the short early momentum, is Bhardwaj concerned about the project being labelled “arthouse” and not finding a larger audience? She makes a pointed statement of not letting a film be defined by its labels. “I personally don’t believe in compartmentalising films as ‘commercial’ or ‘arthouse’. If a film connects with you, it’s a good film. If it doesn’t, the label becomes irrelevant.”

And yet, one has to jump through hoops to market such projects. “There are patterns in how films get financed, marketed and consumed. Women’s stories are often seen as ‘niche’ from the get-go and that assumption affects what gets greenlit,” Bhardwaj said. Ironically, it makes the same point as ‘Chunni’, only in a different context: “Historically men have had more freedom, more spending power and more influence. Naturally, the industry (and society at large) begin catering to them.”

But going into the NYIFF, the team is nothing but pumped. “It’s important to us that this film travels through as many corners of India as possible. In many ways, this is where art imitates reality. This is where stories can spark conversations, stir thought and hopefully contribute, even in a small way, to change,” Bhardwaj said, with eyes on MAMI Mumbai Film Festival and Dharamshala International Film Festival.

The transition from writing to producing has been a rewarding experience for Bhardwaj. “I learned that when a director steps into producing, they bring a ‘dual lens’ advantage… you’re able to protect the creative soul while also understanding where energy, resources and attention need to go,” she said.

‘Chunni’ is not an easy watch, but that’s by design. It mirrors the discomfort that women experience on the streets today. “We are waiting for the day when these themes become irrelevant because that would finally mean that we can co-exist without struggle,” the producer said. Until then, Bhardwaj and her team look forward to bringing ‘Chunni’ home for an Indian audience.