| TITLE OF THE FILM | Bali |
| DIRECTED BY | Amoli Birewar |
| LANGUAGE | Marathi (English subtitles) |
| YEAR | 2025 |
| COUNTRY | India |
| DURATION | 25 minutes 45 seconds |
| SPECIAL NOTE | Kolkata Premiere |
PRINCIPAL CREW & CAST
| WRITING | Pranav Patil, Amoli Birewar |
| CINEMATOGRAPHY | Riddhi Goenka, Rusha Bose |
| EDITING | Pranav Patil |
| LOCATION SOUND | Amoli Birewar |
| SOUND DESIGN & MIXING | Himang Pali |
| MUSIC | Rohit Singh |
| PRINCIPAL CAST | Sujata Rathod, Mahur Kabaddi Team |
ABOUT THE FILM
In a small village in Maharashtra, a young girl from the Banjara tribe is inspired by movies to become a kabaddi player. But as her school years come to an end, she is pushed toward marriage like generations of women before her. A district-level tournament becomes her last chance to change her future. As she steps onto the kabaddi court, she slips into a Bollywood-tinted dream, momentarily becoming the hero she’s always wanted to be.
ABOUT THE DIRECTOR
Amoli Birewar is a Mumbai-based filmmaker who develops and produces documentary films and factual programming for global audiences. Her debut short documentary, ‘Bali’, received the PSBT Doc Commune Grant (2024–25) and has been selected at premier festivals including DIFF, SPIFF and IFFSA. It has also won Best Short Film at Tasveer Film Festival and Special Mention awards at IDSFFK, DokuBaku and IDFF Flahertiana.
DIRECTOR’S STATEMENT
My grandmother was pulled out of school and married off at 16. I grew up hearing her wonder how life could’ve been different, only to shrug it off and return to her chores. On visits to my grandparents’ village, I saw that not much has changed. Girls like Sujata are still pushed down the same path. And yet, Sujata dares to dream. Inspired by the films she loves, she walks around as the star of her own story—fierce and larger than life.
As a former athlete, I know the heady mix of pressure and hope, when everything hinges on a single match, the weight of chasing one big dream, and the heartbreak that follows when it slips away. But ‘Bali’ is more than a sports documentary. It’s a bittersweet portrait of growing up in rural India, where change, especially for women, comes slowly. We wanted to create an honest and intimate film about what it feels like to dream in a world that isn’t built to hold those dreams.
Despite her difficult home life and the pressure to marry early, Sujata remains spirited and hilarious. She jokes about the very things that trouble her. There’s something powerful in these emotional contradictions, in how people laugh through hardship and dream in hopeless places, maybe as the only way to cope. Sujata’s expressive face, humour, and inner world demanded an observational approach. We leaned into the glances and gestures, and let her guide the story.
I hope ‘Bali’ gives viewers a chance to sit with their own heartbreaks and find the strength to keep dreaming, just like our star, Sujata.
