Varsha Panikar

Using Varsha Panikar's poetry series by the same name, it follows the journey of a poet as they rediscover love, passion, and identity after encountering their muse.

“After So Long // बरसों बाद” is a visual poetry set in Mumbai (India) and voiced by Simha and their parents to symbolise their connection with each other; a walkabout through time and memories. Directed by Varsha Panikar, the film takes inspiration from vintage-home-movie culture to create a contemplative and nostalgic vignette of an artist’s spiritual journey out of the darkness and into the light.

In the remote Himalayan village of Kandar, a midwife faces a life-threatening childbirth with no medical recourse. Her only hope lies in finding a wild herb known to heal such cases. The lone person who can identify this herb is an elderly grandmother, living with her teenage granddaughter. So as the three women journey in search - across lands scarred by hydropower projects, they uncover the erosion of both ecology and memory. When an old Kinnauri folksong becomes their guide, tradition and technology converge to revive a fading language, a disappearing landscape, and deep kinship between their people and the earth.