Punishing the Professor
(28 minutes;2025; Tamil with English subtitles)
Director: Aayna, documentary filmmaker at People’s Archive of Rural India.

Special mention at Panchajianyam International Film festival (Kerala)

Dr.P. Senrayaperumal a Dalit folk artist was forced to drop out of school to play his part in the ancestral caste-bound genre of Raja Rani Attam folk performance. He and his brothers spent their childhood playing female roles — enduring slurs, sexual harassment, and bearing the burden of tradition. After 12 years at age 23, he made a desperate gamble to reclaim education all by himself, even while dancing through nights to survive. But his education, the very tool meant for liberation, became the reason for his punishment. Today, he is being questioned: Why did you even get educated?

Bollywood calling Lal Singh
(19 minutes;2026; Hindi with English Subtitles)
Director:  Aayna, documentary filmmaker at People’s Archive of Rural India

Pechanan (Identity)" traces Lal Singh's ongoing struggle to claim his identity. Hailing from a small agricultural labour family, he works as a cook in Mumbai to survive while over a decade tirelessly pursuing a dream that is questionable not for his lack of hard work and talent but for the space that he wishes to be a part of. This documentary follows Lal’s persistent journey through this intimidating and inspiring city space, where he navigates a capitalistic world to arrive at his individuality by claiming his aspirations.

The film screenings will be followed by a Q&A with the Director

(Collaboration: People’s Archive of Rural India (PARI Network)

Music in the Cinema of Ritwik Ghatak 
An illustrated lecture by Partha Chatterjee

Ritwik Ghatak used music in his eight feature films, and several documentaries both as a counterpoint, and even as a counter-melody in conjunction with the image that unravelled the story or the narrative thus adding clarity and richness to the whole film. He used Folk melodies of both East and West Bengal, Hindustani music – both vocal and instrumental, Rabindra Sangeet, and on occasions small selections from Western Classical instrumental music.

Partha Chatterjee is a filmmaker, journalist and rasika of the Arts.
 

The Thinking Game
(84 minutes; 2024; English)
Director: Greg Kohs

Witness the thrilling highs and crushing lows of scientific discovery in The Thinking Game, a documentary that delves into the brilliant minds at DeepMind. Follow Demis Hassabis and his team as they pursue the quest to unlock the secrets of artificial general intelligence (AGI).

(Collaboration: Foundation for Universal Responsibility of His Holiness the Dalai Lama)
 

Health, Wellness and Nutrition: An Ayurveda Perspective

Speaker: Prof. G. G. Gangadharan, Ayurveda expert and practitioner

Chair: Dr. Manoj Nesari, Advisor-Ayurveda, Ministry of AYUSH

Rooted in the timeless wisdom of Ayurveda, this lecture explores the connection between health, wellness, and nutrition through a holistic lens. It highlights how balanced living and natural practices can support overall well-being.

Prof. G. Gangadharan is an Ayurveda researcher and practitioner, with a PhD from Tilak Maharashtra Vidyapeeth, Pune. He has worked extensively on the preservation and promotion of Ayurvedic practices, including medicinal plant conservation, local health traditions and standardization of clinical protocols, to ensure Ayurveda’s relevance and efficacy in the modern world.

Third lecture of the series on “Health, Wellness and Nutrition”, organised by IIC- International Research Division and Bharat ki Soch Foundation
 

Mission Life and Ocean Ecosystem
 

Talk by Dr. R. Venkatesan, Gujarat Maritime University, Gujarat and Indian Institute of Technology, Mandi

Introduction: Dr. Malti Goel, President and Chief Executive, Climate Change Research Institute

Special Remarks: Prof. D. P. Agrawal, Chairman, Governing Council, CCRI and Ex-Chairman UPSC

Guest of Honour: Andreas B. Schei, Counsellor for Climate and Environment, Royal Norwegian Embassy in New Delhi

Chief Guest: Dr. M. Ravichandran, Secretary, Ministry of Earth Sciences, Govt of India

(Collaboration: Climate Change Research Institute)
 

Minimalism: A Documentary About the Important Things
(78 minutes; 2016; English)
Director: Matt D’Avella

A documentary that takes the audience inside the lives of minimalists from all walks of life - families, entrepreneurs, architects, artists, journalists, scientists, and even a former Wall Street broker - all striving to live a meaningful life with less.

(Collaboration: Foundation for Universal Responsibility of His Holiness the Dalai Lama)
 

The establishment of the India-Australia trade and the influence of India on the Australian colonies in the early nineteenth century

Speaker: Dr Charmaine O’Brien, author, culinary historian, and educator whose work explores the rich intersections of food, culture, and identity. Authored books like The Penguin Food Guide to India, The Colonial Kitchen: Australia 1788-1901, Eating the Present: Tasting the Future: exploring India through her changing food.

Special Invitee: Gemma Haines, Counsellor Strategic Communications & Public Diplomacy, Australian High Commission New Delhi

Moderator: Gunjan Goela, Chef, author and a food consultant

This talk explores the early foundations of India–Australia trade, beginning with a famine-driven exchange in 1791 and evolving into a dynamic commercial relationship in the nineteenth century. It examines how trade with Calcutta enabled colonial survival, generated wealth, and fostered enterprise, while also tracing India’s cultural influence on settler life, including food, labour, and domestic practices.
 

Where I am From
By Shyla Kumar Sapra ( Har Anand Publications, 2026)

Discussants: Dr Shovana Narayan, Padma Shri, Kathak Guru ; Prof. Radha Chakravarty, Former Professor & Poet and  Amb. Amarendra Khatua, Poet & Former Director General, ICCR

Chair : K N Shrivastava, Director, IIC 
 

Paka and Ahara: Everyday Stories of Food and Nutrition

Speakers: Dr. Kalyan Sekhar Chakraborty, Department of History, Ashoka University and postdoctoral fellow at the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History; Dr. Ishita Dey, Department of Sociology, South Asian University; Dr. Neha Vermani, Honorary Fellow, Durham University, UK

Chair: Dr Gurmeet Singh, Professor & Dean (Research & Outreach), TDU

Food has always occupied a central place in South Asian thought—not merely as sustenance, but as a medium through which ideas of health, wellbeing, ethics, labour, ecology and community are articulated. In manuscripts, memories and everyday kitchens, food emerges as a language of balance and belonging. The SAMHiTA- Bharat ki Soch Food Colloquium brings together noted scholars to trace India’s rich heritage and explore how historical and contemporary food practices shape community life. Through conversations that move between scholarship and lived experience, the colloquium traces how food practices in South Asia have shaped ideas of health, wellbeing and nutrition.

Curatorial note: Prof Kiranmayi Bhushi, Department of Sociology, IGNOU

Eternal Sky
(108 minutes;2022; English)
Directed by Debra Kellner

HOW DID TIME BEGIN?
Did the big bang happen, or did something else occur?
Humanity has searched for the answer to this question since time immemorial.
‍Six years in the making, the movie Eternal Sky was filmed over three continents. It follows science's most ambitious quest: how did time begin? Set in the remote Andes in the Chilean Atacama Desert, the documentary reveals an intimate story behind one of science's most competitive races by merging ancient wisdom and modern science. Eternal Sky follows in the footsteps of some of the world's leading astrophysicists as they seek to unravel the origins of time, space, and matter. The film follows the lives of several Atacameno elders who take the viewer on a soulful vision of the cosmos. The coexistence between scientists and the local Atacameno culture is a confrontation between the mystical and the existential.

(Collaboration: Foundation for Universal Responsibility of His Holiness the Dalai Lama)