Uploaded September 2021 | Updated September 2026, 3 hours ago
Catch the winners of the PSBT Film Challenge 2020-21 - Yashoda Sanjay Aher and Mansi Chawla & Chirag Wadhwa in conversation with Shabani Hassanwalia telling us why they made the films they did.
In 2020, the first year of lockdowns and Covid, the Public Service Broadcasting Trust, in partnership with the Foundation for Universal Responsibility of His Holiness The Dalai Lama, announced a 'Film Challenge'. Amateur and professional filmmakers were invited to send in their creative interpretations of one of the most challenging moments we have collectively faced in living memory.
It was clear from the entries that the Covid experience had affected everyone - and what emerged were beautiful, poignant films that indicated the filmmakers' ability to reflect deeply and compassionately on our shared experiences.
psbt.org | furhhdl.org
PSBT Film Challenge 2020-21
PSBT & Foundation for Universal Responsibility:
Rajiv Mehrotra – Managing Trustee
Film Challenge Director:
Aparna Sanyal
Team:
Purnima Mehta
Pranami Tamuli
Nabina Chakravarty
Shailendra Singh Rawat
Outreach Advisor:
Premendra Mazumdar
Social Media Promotion
Team Socio Sketch Media (Sunil Agrawal, Joey Pathak,
Iti Sharma, Nutan Baraik, Ankisha Rana, Srishti Millicent)
Himanshu Khaneja
Catch the winners of the PSBT Film Challenge 2020-21 - Yashoda Sanjay Aher and Mansi Chawla & Chirag Wadhwa in conversation with Shabani Hassanwalia telling us why they made the films they did.
In 2020, the first year of lockdowns and Covid, the Public Service Broadcasting Trust, in partnership with the Foundation for Universal Responsibility of His Holiness The Dalai Lama, announced a 'Film Challenge'. Amateur and professional filmmakers were invited to send in their creative interpretations of one of the most challenging moments we have collectively faced in living memory.
It was clear from the entries that the Covid experience had affected everyone - and what emerged were beautiful, poignant films that indicated the filmmakers' ability to reflect deeply and compassionately on our shared experiences.
psbt.org | furhhdl.org
PSBT Film Challenge 2020-21
PSBT & Foundation for Universal Responsibility:
Rajiv Mehrotra – Managing Trustee
Film Challenge Director:
Aparna Sanyal
Team:
Purnima Mehta
Pranami Tamuli
Nabina Chakravarty
Shailendra Singh Rawat
Outreach Advisor:
Premendra Mazumdar
Social Media Promotion
Team Socio Sketch Media (Sunil Agrawal, Joey Pathak,
Iti Sharma, Nutan Baraik, Ankisha Rana, Srishti Millicent)
Himanshu Khaneja





![Parwaaz | Syed Mohammed Afnan | PSBT Film Challenge
The film tells the story of the chhats in purani Dilli, or old Delhi, and the lives that exist beneath them. It looks at the current state of the old city through two families, who are witnessing this loss of space, culture, and time. A parwaaz, or a flight, is what everybody yearns for, and staying close to the roots which give us this flight is what this film seeks to explore
Directed by Syed Mohammed Afnan | 2024
Producer and Commissioning Editor: Rajiv Mehrotra
Festivals
Best Documentary, Noida International Film Festival 2024
Syed Mohammed Afnan is a media professional based in New Delhi. Currently working as a producer at NDTV with three years of experience in television production, his dexterity to bring writing and editing together provides a well-rounded expertise in creative storytelling across genres. Space studies and technology are two of his areas of focus. His short video-diary ‘sixty days of solitude’ has won the Jury Award in the PSBT Film Challenge.
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 Indias 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.
Produced by PSBT
http://www.psbt.org/;
For festival, screening, and sale queries, please write to distribution[at]psbt[dot]org
Last updated: October 2025 Parwaaz | Syed Mohammed Afnan | PSBT Film Challenge](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/iHqJyUDT6VY/mqdefault.jpg)




