BIFFes 2026: In ‘White Snow’, a banned film fined its way through the Himalayas

Across rugged mountains and long stretches of parched land, White Snow, directed by Praveen Morchhale, follows a mother’s journey, who travels from village to village across the Himalayas to screen her son’s banned short film.

The 82-minute-long Urdu film, set in and around Kashmir, tells the story of a young filmmaker, Ameer, whose work is banned after objections to a scene showing postpartum blood visible against snow.

While many women who watch the film say they see their own story, that single image of postpartum blood is believed by the community leaders to be enough to disturb peace and bring “inquilab” or revolution. This belief triggers police questioning, social threats, and the filmmaker’s arrest. Through repeated but subtle instances, Morchhale makes it clear that the film is about who decides what can be seen.

Produced by Barefoot Pictures, with international co-production support from France’s Woooz Pictures and associate producers from Germany and Canada, the film was screened at the recently held Bangalore International Film Festival (BIFFES).

Instead of building the story around courtrooms or questioning, the film shifts its weight to the mother. Morchhale draws from the tradition of touring talkies, reducing it to its simplest form of one film, one screen, and an audience found along the way. Her journey with her yak, Riri, is shown as laborious rather than heroic. Madhu Kandhar, who plays Fatima, carries a television and a DVD on her yak to show people the film her son made about her.

As the film moves between the son’s ordeal and the mother’s journey, Morchhale avoids linear escalation. Instead, he builds meaning through repetition and contrast. Rivers flow freely beside the bus taking Fatima, suggesting motion without freedom, passage without release. Parched land stretches endlessly, broken only by a single struggling plant. The natural world remains indifferent to human authority, while society tightens its grip.

Despite the title White Snow, the film mostly shows dry land, cracked roads, and empty stretches. Snow appears mainly in memory and within the banned film itself.

Several interactions along Fatima’s journey reveal how control works in everyday life. One woman admits she enjoys watching films and likes Shah Rukh Khan, but only watches television when her husband isn’t at home. Others say they cannot watch because there is work to do, or because they are not allowed. The film shows how patriarchy survives through habit.

Noor, who appears briefly in Ameer’s film, carries a presence that goes beyond her screen time. Through her, White Snow gives voice to questions that others suppress. She openly challenges silence and refuses to accept submission as normal, asking whether living quietly in the shadows is equivalent to being alive. Despite her resolve, Noor remains surrounded by social, familial, and cultural boundaries that contain her resistance.

Religious authority declares the postpartum blood immoral and revolutionary. Morchhale places this against lived reality — childbirth is common, pain is common, and blood is common. By banning the image, the system is not protecting values; it is denying life as it exists. Throughout, this contradiction sits at the heart of the film.

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The yak, carrying a television tied with a rope, becomes a practical solution; it is simply what allows the film to move forward. Mountains and rivers remain indifferent, watching without interference. Through repeated visuals, Morchhale reminds us that landscapes will remember stories long after people decide to look away.

By the time the film draws to a close, it becomes clear that this story is less about triumph and more about persistence. The act of carrying the film from one village to another, from one screen to the next, becomes an assertion that stories do not disappear simply because they are banned.

Published – February 08, 2026 11:44 am IST