A remote village tucked in the Himalayas in India called Choj takes us into the lives of Phagnu, a native from the village, Chotulal, a Nepali immigrant and their estranged relationship.
The directors of Outsider; Siddesh Shetty and Kanishka Sonthalia were invited to attend Dhaka Doc, a pitching and mentoring platform for documentary filmmakers held in Dhaka, Bangladesh and Let's Doc Fellowship in Kolkata, India. The film has also won a grant by FAMU International, Prague, Czech Republic and is scheduled to be completed by mid-2021.
Vijay Kumar, 6, illustrates different aspects of his village.
Dimpy, 5, waits for her father to return from the market with her favourite chocolates on a winter afternoon.
A primary school in the village.
Chotu, is an immigrant Nepali who arrived in India at the age of 55. He had lived in several parts of north India before he settled down in Choj. Since his arrival in India, he shifted between several jobs; from working as a handyman, drug peddler, a contractor for Nepali immigrants to now, a cafe owner.
Phagnu, 50, a native, was born and brought up in Choj. He lives in the same wooden house with his wife, daughter Pinky and son Manoj that he built with his father when he was in his late teens. Phaagnu is one of the older inhabitants of the village and is highly respected by the villagers.
A retired lumberman he now has a small stake in the lumber business.
Kanishka Sonthalia
Kanishka Sonthalia (b. 1990) is an independent documentary photographer currently based in Brooklyn, New York.