Ein abgelegener Ort im Himalaya, abgeschieden und still: Die Männer sind weg, an der Grenze, um im Kargil-Krieg zu kämpfen. Fernab vom Kampfgeschehen leben die Frauen in einer Welt, in der die Tage in Stille vorüberziehen. Sehnsucht und Warten bestimmen das Leben. Als mit Manik Guho ein rätselhafter Fremder in den Ort kommt, gerät das fragile Gleichgewicht ins Wanken. Die Lehrerin Barkha fühlt sich zunehmend zu dem Neuankömmling hingezogen. Die Realität verschmilzt mit einer alten Legende um eine Schlange, die im verbotenen Fluss lebt und seit tausend Jahren auf ein nie eingelöstes Liebesversprechen wartet.

In a remote Himalayan town during the Kargil War Barkha, a schoolteacher whose husband is away at the border, finds herself drawn to Manik Guho, a mysterious outsider who disrupts the fragile balance of waiting, restraint, and myth. As his presence reawakens long-buried yearnings a whispered local folklore comes alive: a serpent that lives in the forbidden river, still waiting after a thousand years for the unkept promise of love. This is a poetic exploration of desire and freedom, where myth and memory blur, inviting both women and men into a deeply sensual, haunting journey through love, longing, and transformation.

We were immediately drawn to Nidhi’s lyrical vision. This is a story rooted in myth and yet is startlingly relevant today. At PBS, we believe in backing storytellers who take creative risks and Nidhi has crafted something singular, poetic, and soulful.

It laps at the senses, this long Hindi-language audio-visual poem by Indian director Nidhi Saxena, using silences and absences to tell a story set in a remote Himalayan town during the Kargil War of the late 1990s. This tale of a lonely woman drawn to an outsider is steeped in legend, but also in the lived daily experience of Indian women.

Working with cinematographer Vikas Urs, Saxena creates a vivid portrait haunted by absence and longing. This is a film seen and crafted in the presence of a woman, and there is no way you can forget it. This is a woman's world. The gaze is so unmistakably inwards, so full of texture and ache. There is no front-footedness in the storytelling; it is thankfully in no hurry to move ahead with startling revelations and gimmicky monologues. Instead, this is an inner world full of small discoveries and happenstances, a world illuminated with the desire to be seen and included. The soft notes of Rekha Bharadwaj's vocals that arrive early on become the film's heartbeat.