Uploaded October 2025 | Updated September 2026, 4 days ago
Inspired by movies, a young girl from the Banjara tribe in rural Maharashtra fights for her dream of becoming a kabaddi player to escape a forced marriage. During a district-level tournament, she slips into a Bollywood-tinted dream, momentarily becoming the hero, she’s always imagined.
'Bali'
Grant Winner, PSBT Doc_Commune 2024-25
Director: Amoli Birewar
Producers: Aparna Sanyal, Rajiv Mehrotra
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Festivals
Special Jury Mention, Short Documentary Competition, IDSFFK 2025
Special Jury Mention, International Competition, International Documentary Film Festival "Flahertiana" 2025
DokuKids Special Mention Award, DokuKids Category, DokuBaku International Documentary Film Festival 2025
Best Short Film Jury Award, Tasveer Film Festival 2025
International Film Festival of South Asia (IFFSA) 2025
Saratov Sufferings Documentary Drama Film Festival 2025
Dharamshala International Film Festival (DIFF) 2025
Rome International Documentary Festival (RIDF)
Amoli Birewar is a documentary filmmaker based out of Goa. After studying filmmaking at the Symbiosis Centre for Media & Communication, she joined Untamed Planet, an award-winning production house based in India & New York that creates unscripted programming for broadcast networks like National Geographic, BBC, Bloomberg, PBS, and the UNEP. She has developed and produced short-form series, as well as short and feature-length documentaries, and branded content
Rajiv Mehrotra is the Founding Managing Trustee and Commissioning Editor of PSBT - his films have won more than 300 awards worldwide, including 32 in 31 years from the President of India. His nine books are available in 50 languages and editions. He also serves as the Trustee/ Secretary of the Foundation for Universal Responsibility of HH the Dalai Lama.
PSBT is a not-for-profit that nurtures and supports the production of independent documentary films by a diversity of filmmakers from across India. Over two decades, it has produced close to 700 documentary films, each film averaging two film festival selections and every second film an award.
PSBT is led by some of India's iconic film personalities - Adoor Gopalakrishnan, Sharmila Tagore, and Kiran Karnik. Shyam Benegal, Mrinal Sen, Aruna Vasudev, and Fali Nariman were also Trustees in their lifetimes.
Since 2025, Aparna Sanyal has been leading PSBT as Director. She is a national award-winning filmmaker and an experienced broadcast professional who has held leadership roles in various media organisations, including the India Chapter of the International Association of Women in Radio & Television.
This film is a part of PSBT's mentoring initiative, Doc_Commune. Launched in 2021, the programme offers a dedicated space for young filmmakers to engage with experienced professionals, refine their projects, and build a supportive community. Through a series of masterclasses, feedback sessions, and conversations, Doc_Commune encourages creative exploration while offering practical guidance on the documentary process. It serves as a bridge between early-career filmmakers and the larger documentary ecosystem. Harjas Singh works on Doc_Commune as Assistant Producer.
Credits
Protagonist – Sujata Rathod, Nisha Rathod, Diksha Khelchilpilwar & the Mahur Kabaddi Team
Assistant Producer – Harjas Singh
Cinematographers – Rusha Bose, Riddhi Goenka
Editor – Pranav Patil
Music – Rohit Singh
Sound Design & Mix – Himang Pali
Colourist – Prithvi Buddhavarapu, Bridge PostWorks
Produced by PSBT
psbt.org/;
For festival, screening, and sale queries, please write to distribution[at]psbt[dot]org
Last updated: October 2025
Inspired by movies, a young girl from the Banjara tribe in rural Maharashtra fights for her dream of becoming a kabaddi player to escape a forced marriage. During a district-level tournament, she slips into a Bollywood-tinted dream, momentarily becoming the hero, she’s always imagined.
'Bali'
Grant Winner, PSBT Doc_Commune 2024-25
Director: Amoli Birewar
Producers: Aparna Sanyal, Rajiv Mehrotra
-
Festivals
Special Jury Mention, Short Documentary Competition, IDSFFK 2025
Special Jury Mention, International Competition, International Documentary Film Festival "Flahertiana" 2025
DokuKids Special Mention Award, DokuKids Category, DokuBaku International Documentary Film Festival 2025
Best Short Film Jury Award, Tasveer Film Festival 2025
International Film Festival of South Asia (IFFSA) 2025
Saratov Sufferings Documentary Drama Film Festival 2025
Dharamshala International Film Festival (DIFF) 2025
Rome International Documentary Festival (RIDF)
Amoli Birewar is a documentary filmmaker based out of Goa. After studying filmmaking at the Symbiosis Centre for Media & Communication, she joined Untamed Planet, an award-winning production house based in India & New York that creates unscripted programming for broadcast networks like National Geographic, BBC, Bloomberg, PBS, and the UNEP. She has developed and produced short-form series, as well as short and feature-length documentaries, and branded content
Rajiv Mehrotra is the Founding Managing Trustee and Commissioning Editor of PSBT - his films have won more than 300 awards worldwide, including 32 in 31 years from the President of India. His nine books are available in 50 languages and editions. He also serves as the Trustee/ Secretary of the Foundation for Universal Responsibility of HH the Dalai Lama.
PSBT is a not-for-profit that nurtures and supports the production of independent documentary films by a diversity of filmmakers from across India. Over two decades, it has produced close to 700 documentary films, each film averaging two film festival selections and every second film an award.
PSBT is led by some of India's iconic film personalities - Adoor Gopalakrishnan, Sharmila Tagore, and Kiran Karnik. Shyam Benegal, Mrinal Sen, Aruna Vasudev, and Fali Nariman were also Trustees in their lifetimes.
Since 2025, Aparna Sanyal has been leading PSBT as Director. She is a national award-winning filmmaker and an experienced broadcast professional who has held leadership roles in various media organisations, including the India Chapter of the International Association of Women in Radio & Television.
This film is a part of PSBT's mentoring initiative, Doc_Commune. Launched in 2021, the programme offers a dedicated space for young filmmakers to engage with experienced professionals, refine their projects, and build a supportive community. Through a series of masterclasses, feedback sessions, and conversations, Doc_Commune encourages creative exploration while offering practical guidance on the documentary process. It serves as a bridge between early-career filmmakers and the larger documentary ecosystem. Harjas Singh works on Doc_Commune as Assistant Producer.
Credits
Protagonist – Sujata Rathod, Nisha Rathod, Diksha Khelchilpilwar & the Mahur Kabaddi Team
Assistant Producer – Harjas Singh
Cinematographers – Rusha Bose, Riddhi Goenka
Editor – Pranav Patil
Music – Rohit Singh
Sound Design & Mix – Himang Pali
Colourist – Prithvi Buddhavarapu, Bridge PostWorks
Produced by PSBT
psbt.org/;
For festival, screening, and sale queries, please write to distribution[at]psbt[dot]org
Last updated: October 2025
