Bhavya Chhabra screens his documentary Dream Life in Chandigarh

Film director Bhavya Chhabra, who recently screened his latest documentary Dream Life in Chandigarh, describes his own journey as a “Dream Life in making.”

Starting his career as a video journalist during the Himachal Pradesh Elections in 2016, he went on to work as a wedding videographer, slowly sharpening his visual storytelling skills. In 2016, he had an opportunity to assist a Swiss filmmaker travelling across India, making documentaries, during which he discovered his true calling, his interest in the format of non-fictional story telling.

He recalled, “After those three or four months with the Swiss filmmaker, I thought, ‘Okay, this is what I want to do’.”

He moved to the UK in 2022, where he worked in many projects as videographer, photographer and also as assistant director. “All the experiences I have gathered over the years have shaped me,” Chhabra shared. He also had the opportunity to work as the behind-the-scenes photographer at The Great British Sewing Bee and assist with crowd running for an Amazon MGM Productions.

His documentary, Dream Life, was originally a project for his master degree in the UK. The film was shot in Bir, Himachal Pradesh, and follows the life of a couple, Sannat and Saanya, who left the high-flying urban life to settle in the small mountain town in search of a slower, more intentional way of living. “I came across Sannat Sachdev on a podcast. His life fascinated me.”

After returning to the UK, he spent six months editing the footage, only to find the result unsatisfactory. “Six months later, when I picked it up again, I deleted 15 minutes of footage even without rewatching it,” he recollected. The film finally took shape.

Looking ahead, Chhabra hopes to bring out stories rooted in the common human experiences.