Stolen

In the wee hours of a cold morning at a remote railway station in rural India, a chance encounter changes three lives forever. A five-month- old baby is stolen from the clutches of her mother, Jhumpa Mahato, an impoverished tribal woman with a dark past. Raman Bansal, a photographer, becomes the unwitting witness to this brutal incident. Gautam Bansal, a wealthy urban brat, has come to pick up his younger brother Raman from the station. While Raman genuinely feels empathetic towards the plight of Jhumpa, Gautam hardly cares to know more about what does not concern him and believes in the pleasures of a privileged life. Their already tenuous relationship is further tested when both of them are embroiled in Jhumpa’s endeavour to search for her baby. The perilous journey of the trio through the unknown hostile hinterlands thrust the young men out of their sheltered existence, compelling them to confront the harshness of reality. The trio are forced to navigate the dark underbelly of society, testing their resilience, trust, and ultimately, their humanity. Amidst the heart-pounding action and survival struggles, deeper themes of motherhood, classism, xenophobia, and a disillusionment with the system emerge. (Venice International Film Festival)