u/No_Eye_3350

Back in 2021 during lockdown, I returned to my hometown Unnao thinking I would make a documentary about farmers.

The day my father picked me up from the station, he told me my uncle had died. He was supposed to be the subject of the film.

After that, I completely lost direction for a while.

Then I started hanging around with boys from my neighbourhood who had just finished college during lockdown and were all drifting through uncertainty.

Instead of writing a proper script, I just started talking to them on camera.

That slowly became a short film called Dostinagar.

Most of it was shot around an abandoned boys hostel and a sports ground where all kinds of people from the town used to gather. Potheads, aspiring policemen, loners, cricket kids.

One day, while we were discussing how stuck we were with the film, a massive dust storm suddenly hit the area.

I immediately took out my phone and started shooting.

That accidentally became the opening sequence of the film.

Looking back now, the film is technically rough and imperfect, but I think it captured something emotionally honest about lockdown youth, unfinished friendships, and small town loneliness.

The abandoned hostel where we shot has already been demolished now.

So in a strange way, the film accidentally became an archive of a vanished time.

Recently I released it on YouTube.

Would genuinely love to know what people here think about it. And I have written an article about the process, please find it in comments.

In 2020, during the pandemic, I got an opportunity to travel to villages in Banswara and Dungarpur to document issues around women’s education.

I went in without a script. No fixed story. Just a camera and time.

The first interview itself changed everything. An 18-year-old girl had missed her exams because she didn’t have a phone.

After that, the film started shaping itself. Every house had a different version of the same problem.

no access to information

poor school infrastructure

early marriage becoming the default outcome

There was no “plot” I could design. It was about observing and not interfering too much.

It eventually became a documentary called Dropout Daughters.

Curious how others here approach filming when there’s no clear narrative going in. Do you plan heavily or let it emerge like this?

(I’ll share the article/film link in comments if anyone’s interested)

In 2020, I travelled to Banswara and Dungarpur to document women’s education in villages.

One thing stayed with me.

An 18-year-old girl missed her exams because she didn’t have a phone. She didn’t even know the dates.

Another girl dropped out because her school had no desks, and she couldn’t sit on the floor due to a leg injury.

In most places I visited, this wasn’t unusual. It was normal.

What struck me more than the lack of resources was how accepted it all felt. Families, schools, even the girls themselves had already adjusted to it.

We talk a lot about growth and becoming a global power, but in these places, basic access to education is still fragile.

I wrote a longer piece about this experience. Sharing it in the comments in case anyone wants to read.