PINAKI MAJUMDAR
Jamshedpur, Jan 4: An ex-student of Jamshedpur-based Loyola School, Harsh Vaibhav, is set to make his debut as a screenwriter and executive producer in ‘Bokshi’ premiering at the prestigious International Film Festival Rotterdam 2025.
‘Bokshi’: A prestigious debut at IFFR 2025
Bokshi, directed and produced by Bhargav Saikia, known for adapting Ruskin Bond’s short story in his acclaimed short film ‘The Black Cat’, is a folk-horror fantasy shot in the dense forests of Sikkim in northeast India and will have its world premiere at the prestigious International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR) 2025.
Bokshi, based on an original screenplay by Harsh Vaibhav, tackles themes relating to gender dynamics, unaddressed psychological trauma and the ecological costs of civilization.
Through its study of witchcraft and a forgotten prehistoric lore, this eco-feminist narrative draws parallels between women and Mother Earth.
The film starring Mansi Multani (A Suitable Boy, Kadakh) and Prasanna Bisht (Farrey), is in Hindi, English, Nepali and an invented language Boksirit, a fully developed fictional language spoken by a few characters in the film and developed by renowned Dutch linguist, Jan van Steenbergen.
Bokshi follows the journey of a troubled teen, Anahita, who goes on a high school expedition to a little-known prehistoric site and finds herself tested as a long-forgotten myth unfurls and things turn eerie, forcing her to confront her worst fears.
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Harsh Vaibhav: From Jamshedpur to global cinema
Harsh Vaibhav, who grew up in Jamshedpur and Dhanbad, got interested in films as a teenager when as a student of Loyola School here, he along with his friends made a short film on student suicides, which was later supported by Tata Steel and screened across the city as well as Delhi and Kolkata.
In fact, his first short film was named ‘Partly Right’, which he made while he was in class XI at Loyola.
Harsh later pursued literature at Delhi University’s Ramjas College and went on to study filmmaking at the Prague Film School in Europe.
On returning to India, Harsh met Bhargav and they began developing Bokshi.
A journey of creativity and challenges
Produced by Bhargav Saikia’s Lorien Motion Pictures, Bokshi was shot over 80 days, across two winters in Sikkim with Harsh Vaibhav handling the responsibilities of production during filming as the executive producer.
Excited about making the World Premiere at the prestigious IFFR, Harsh says, “I was fresh out of film school when Bhargav entrusted me with writing his debut feature. It took us five years to make this ambitious indie and never had we imagined that our first film would premiere at such a prestigious festival. Kudos to Bhargav for truly elevating the script with his directorial voice and sincerely thankful to IFFR for this dream world premiere.”
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He went on to say that it’s an honour to premiere Bokshi in Rotterdam, a festival celebrated for showcasing bold and original voices in global cinema.
Harsh wrote an adventurous script for the film and worked tirelessly as an executive producer, successfully tackling numerous logistical challenges while shooting the film in remote locations of Sikkim.
“I am looking forward to growing my production company, Lorien Motion Pictures, with Harsh and currently we are working on our next project, an untitled horror-comedy film in Hindi,” said director Bhargav Saikia.
