Every year, Dharamshala Film Festival outdoes itself by giving independent cinema a platform, nestled in the Himalayan region. The 14th edition of this iconic festival is all ready to kickstart on 30th October, applauding both masters and young talent over a weekend of thrilling, glorious, intimate cinema. Taking place at the Tibetan Children’s Village, this edition’s opening night will feature Neeraj Ghaywan’s Homebound, India’s official entry to the Oscars. Other Indian films include Anuparna Roy’s Songs of Forgotten Trees, Nidhi Saxena’s Secret of A Mountain Serpent, and Full Plate by Tannishtha Chatterjee, to name a few. Here is Platform’s list of must watch Indian films at DIFF 2025.
Homebound by Neeraj Ghaywan
Homebound, directed by Neeraj Ghaywan, has been selected as India's official entry for the Best International Feature Film category at the 98th Academy Awards in 2026. The film, starring Ishaan Khatter, Vishal Jethwa, and Janhvi Kapoor, is a fictionalized account based on the real-life story of two boys who walked home during the COVID-19 lockdown. After an impressive festival circuit run at Cannes and TIFF, Homebound also released in theatres across India in September.
Sabar Bonda by Rohan Kanawade
Rohan Parashuram Kanawade's Sabar Bonda, also titled Cactus Pears, is a Marathi romantic drama that made history by winning the Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival. The film explores a tender queer love story set against the backdrop of a funeral in a rural Maharashtrian village. After its theatrical release in mid-September, Sabar Bonda won critics and audiences’ hearts and minds alike, and restored faith in independent cinema. Read our interview with the filmmaker here.
Angammal by Vipin Ramakrishnan
Vipin Radhakrishnan's Angammal is Tamil film, adapted from writer Perumal Murugan's short story Kodithuni. Having made the rounds at MAMI 2024 and New York Indian Film Festival 2025, the film focuses on themes of bodily autonomy, caste, and shifting cultural norms, exploring how a mother's refusal to wear a blouse challenges her son's desires for modern respectability.
Roohrangi by Tushar Madhavv
A queer voyage along the labyrinth of dreams, archives and lived histories, Roohrangi navigates the real and the imaginary – traversing the filmmaker’s encounters in a gay-cruising forest reserve as he retraces the memory of his grandfather’s leucoderma-marked face, a face on whose white-and-brown patches, he saw a forest of miraculous trees. His first feature documentary, A Ballad of Maladies (2016), won Best Debut Director at the 64th National Film Awards of India, so this one's sure to be a hit.
Cycle Mahesh by Suhel Banerjee
Directed by Suhel Banerjee, Cycle Mahesh is an acclaimed hybrid documentary film that explores themes of migration, exploitation, and fleeting fame through a meta-narrative structure. The film is based on the true story of Mahesh, a migrant worker who cycled 1,700 kilometers during India's COVID-19 lockdown. It won the Best First Feature Award at the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA) in 2024.
Full Plate by Tannishtha Chatterjee
Tannishtha Chatterjee’s Hindi drama film Full Plate, stars Kirti Kulhari in the lead role. The film had its world premiere at the Busan International Film Festival and was also selected to open the Indian Film Festival of Sydney. The story centers on Amreen, a Mumbai homemaker whose exceptional cooking skills become her only means of earning a living after her husband is in an accident.
Boong by Lakshmipriya Devi
Boong is a coming-of-age Manipuri film directed by Lakshmipriya Devi. The film premiered at the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival under the Discovery section. It is Devi's feature film debut, and tells the heartwarming and heartbreaking story of Boong, a schoolboy who lives with his mother in a remote village in Manipur.
Sheep Barn by Bharat Singh Parihar
Sheep Barn, originally titled Bhediya Dhasaan, is a 2024 Hindi drama directed by Bharat Singh Parihar. It is Parihar's debut feature film, and follows a labourer who visits his ancestral village in the Himalayan foothills to take his aged father with him to the city. His father’s refusal to leave the village makes the labourer prolong his stay, which becomes gripped by the terror and drama of a lurking man-eating tiger.
Secret of a Mountain Serpent by Nidhi Saxena
Secret of a Mountain Serpent premiered at the Venice International Film Festival, and uses myth and poetry to explore female desire and loneliness against the backdrop of the 1999 Kargil War. Starring Trimala Adhikari, Adil Hussain, and produced by Richa Chadha and Ali Fazal, this one’s a festival favourite. Read our interview with the filmmaker here.
Songs of Forgotten Trees by Anuparna Roy
Annapurna Roy’s directorial debut made history at the 82nd Venice International Film Festival when Roy became the first Indian director to win the Best Director award in the Orizzonti (Horizons) section. Set in Mumbai, the film follows two migrant women who come from different backgrounds but form a fragile bond, and navigate the city’s indifference. Read our interview with the filmmaker here.
Alaav by Prabhash Chandra
Alaav by Prabhash Chandra is the story of Bhaveen, a 63-year-old son, taking care of Savitri, his ailing 95-year-old mother in their home nestled in a quiet suburb of Delhi. Bhaveen rarely steps out of his house as he is completely devoted to looking after his mother. From waking up in the morning until going to sleep, Bhaveen is the sole caregiver for his mother. The film deals not just with the tenderness, playfulness, patience and devotion of Bhaveen, but also with the struggles, frustrations, resentment and the passive aggression caregiving entails. It is a dispassionate yet intimate portrayal of the human bond between a mother and son.
Date 28-10-2025