KALA GHODA ART FESTIVAL | 2026

3rd January 2026 I Public Realm in Urban India

With the ‘public realm’ as its central focus, the 11 film anthology examined the complex interactions between people from different castes, classes, age, and gender, as well as addressed an important question – What are the layers that constitute the public realm in urban India? 

The anthology curated was a compelling fit for the Kala Ghoda Arts Festival, as both engage deeply with the city’s public realm—its streets, shared spaces, and everyday negotiations—making public realm both the context and the conversation.


FILMS SCREENED

Mauj Ni Khoj (Seeking Fun)

By Aishwarya Gupta, Badal Maheshwari, Drashti Agrawal, Isha Thakkar, Mumtaaz, Sajida, & Soumyadeep Das

Hissa

By Siddharth Kar & Susmita Talukdar

Manaveeyam

By Sreekanth Sivaswamy, Rajesh. R & Nitin. R

ফুল গাড়ি (Scent of Nocturnal Flowers)

By Anamoy Bera, Ritam Chakrabarty, Saptarshi Ghosh & Sukanya Saha

Pascal Premier League

By Sapan Taneja

Deewar Nāma (Chronicles of the Walls)

By Arjun Lal & Priyanka Arora

How much space does a firefly take?

By Shubham Negi, Udit Raj Somani, Shubham Dadhich & Sourav Yadav

In Search of Humans

By Ritam Sarkar, Ayush Ray & Ria Sarkar

Through The Dappled Light

By Ritam Puneet Raj Singh, Nikita Sharma & Apoorva Sharma


PANELISTS

Sapan Taneja

Filmmaker | Writer

Siddharth Kar

Writer | Director | Photographer

Arjun Lal

Writer | Director

MODERATOR

Dev Benegal

Director | Screenwriter

PANEL DISCUSSION

The conversation brought forth experiences of the filmmakers in working closely with the communities around urban issues, discussing in detail the ethics and advocacy involved in documentary storytelling.