Subhadra Mahajan’s debut feature film, Second Chance (2024), takes place over a mere number of days and narrates the tale of a young woman, Nia (Dheera Johnson), who finds herself caught in a difficult situation after discovering an unwanted pregnancy. The protagonist goes into a state of depression and decides to spend a few days in a quiet Himalayan village. Isolated from her friends and family, Nia copes with dejection through her rural surroundings. She finds company amongst people who belong to different economic backgrounds, and this helps her evolve with a renewed prospect of hope.

Second Chance was selected in the Proxima Competition of the Karlovy Vary Film Festival 2024. In this interview, Mahajan discusses the origins of her story, the significance of detail in her filmmaking and the experience of working with non-professional actors. 

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Dipankar Sarkar: How did you get motivated by the world of filmmaking? 

Subhadra Mahajan: I come from a small town nestled in the Himalayas where films are watched occasionally, but the concept of making a career as a filmmaker is quite far-fetched. As a teenager, I was a very good writer, and I was made the editor of my school magazine, Mayo College Girls’ School. After that, I was convinced that I should become a journalist. So, I did a Bachelor’s in Mass Media with a major in Journalism from St. Xavier’s College Mumbai, and I also interned at a leading national news magazine and a news channel. That’s when I discovered the bitter truth of working in the field of sensationalism and cow-towing to corporate agendas as compared to the lofty ideals I had in my head of being a watchdog of democracy and the fourth estate. I was rather crestfallen at that time, but simultaneously, I joined the Film Club in college. That’s where I watched World Cinema for the first time, and it blew my mind. The classics by [Nicholas] Ray, [Sergei] Eisenstein, [Andrei] Tarkovsky and [Akira] Kurosawa, as well as more modern auteurs like Krzysztof Kieślowski, Wong Kar-wai and Pedro Almodóvar, were some of the first international filmmakers I was exposed to, and the one who perhaps made the biggest impact was Majid Majidi. I thought, “I want to try to make films like these.” I know it’s tough and I may never succeed, but let me at least try. I did a post-graduation in Film and TV from Xavier itself, and I was very lucky to get my first job in college with Indian-French filmmaker Pan Nalin. I was a huge fan of the first film he made, Samsara (2001). I have been working with Nalin and off for more than 10 years now, of course starting from the bottom of the rungs to being his first assistant director and co-writer now. Angry Indian Goddesses (2015) and Last Film Show (2021) were amazing projects to work on, and I learned so much. And when I felt I was ready to make my first feature film, of course Nalin was a guiding force as an executive producer on the project.

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DS: What led you to choose a debut film featuring a protagonist who narrows her mental space and attempts to deny the reality that consumes her from within? 

SM: Nia, like me, belongs to a peculiar class of Indians — young millennials and Gen Z from well-to-do families — who have had all the opportunities open to us that neither our parents nor our grandparents had. The world is our oyster, and anything we want is just a tap away on our smartphones. As grand as this may sound, I have experienced and seen several instances where the privilege of endless possibilities has resulted in a lot of confusion and a lot of pressure to excel because what the hell can ever stop us? Within this scenario, “business” is still far superior to “art,” and educational and professional goals are centered more around material wealth than internal resources. Social media has compounded competitiveness in this already stilted atmosphere, and urbanization has resulted in more loneliness. It took me losing more than one close friend to suicide to realize that our generation faces a huge amount of internal emptiness and fragility. 

Being a young woman in this generation is all the more confusing, because while we may get ticked into believing that gender equality is on the rise in our traditionally patriarchal setup, this is very much on the surface. It just takes one instance, like an accidental premarital pregnancy, to shatter the illusion and to be left alone to face a brutally nasty society. And it really could be the “end of the world” for this already lost, defeated and traumatized young woman. This is the reality from which the character of Nia was born.

But I must add that in this bleak scenario, I was certain that I wanted to tell a story about the power of healing, the opportunity of a true second chance for Nia and the scores of young people who may be able to relate to her.

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DS: As Nia navigates her situation, she becomes friends with Sunny (Kanav Thakur). She plays cricket with him and designs a toy astronaut suit for his birthday. Does this help her heal from her emotional wreckage? 

SM: I think it does, most certainly! I am a strong believer in the theory of a more holistic approach to happiness, due to my own life experiences. Looking at your safety and pleasure will lead to small-term satisfaction, but the moment you step out of yourself to someone’s else smile — in Nia’s case, playing with a lonely child, opening his eyes to something that she knew would not shatter his dreams of flying to the moon but rather root it a little more in reality — you are on the path to real, long-lasting happiness and internal peace. Without this and her gentle play at Cupid between Bhemi (Thakri Devi) and the shepherd, Nia would not be able to heal herself. In giving both of them the opportunity of a “second chance,” she realizes that she has the strength to give herself one as well.

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DS: Kabir abandons Nia when he finds out about the pregnancy. Meanwhile, the shepherd and the widow, Bhemi, have a close, non-romantic relationship. Were you trying to convey something through this contrast? 

SM: To be honest, no — this was not an intentional contrast, but [it’s interesting that] you thought so. Films like these are so open to personal interpretation, and this is so much fun for me as the original creator to see what you as a critic or someone else as an audience might infer from it. The intention behind having Kabir as a cowardly boyfriend who abandons Nia was again unfortunately rooted in a reality where a man in such a situation can just disappear, as he has no “physical” consequences to deal with, even though the pregnancy was a result of negligence on the part of both partners. 

The intention behind the light-hearted flirtations and romance between the shepherd and Bhemi was that I was against the idea that love was only for people of a certain age group. Love is for all! I am a die-hard romantic, and I believe that romance should be part of every person’s life, no matter what age they may be. In my head, even Sunny has a girl who he likes in school. I even know what she looks like, what he would do to impress her and what kind of gifts he would try to woo her with.

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DS: What was the purpose of referencing the mythological figure Druvti Devi, who fought evils tooth and nail and eventually buried herself to become a rock that protects and nurtures the valley?

SM: Well, anyone who knows the Kullu Valley, where this film is based and shot, will know if the omnipresent deities, the Devis (Goddess) and Devtas (God), have ruled this land and their people since time immemorial. They predate Vedic Hinduism and have their roots in nature, and they are present throughout all the valleys of Himachal Pradesh. But today, the people of the Kullu all most revere them and live by their ancient culture. So, I knew that telling any story that is set in this land would be incomplete without a reference to them. 

Each of these deities has a long story behind their establishment, and I have been hearing them since I was a baby growing up in Himachal Pradesh. So, I made up my own story of Druvti Devi, which, though original, has similarities to my personal favorite “devi” stories. I felt Nia needed to hear this story at this point in the film to understand and identify with the divine feminine within herself — that her scars will remain, but she will rise from her ashes even more powerfully than before. And Bhemi needed to tell this story to identify with the divine feminine within herself — that some sacrifices are inevitable, and from them emerge civilizations and generations. The audience needed to witness this collective feminine consciousness, which cuts across all barriers of time, space and form.

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DS: Dheera Johnson is a subtle performer whose emotions shimmer just under the surface throughout Second Chance.  How did you direct her to achieve such a nuanced and understated performance? 

SM: Dheera had never acted on camera before, so it was a huge risk to cast her as the lead, considering the very internal journey and that she has to carry the entire film. But from the beginning, I knew that I had to use all non-actors for this film, and she was on my mind even while writing the first draft of the script. I conducted a basic audition early on, and both me and the casting director and acting coach, Dilip Shankar, felt confident that she would be able to pull it off. I had known her for several years, and I already knew she was very photogenic and an incredible dancer, so I wrote that into the character, and we were in touch through the various drafts of the script. She related to the character and loved the story from the word “go.” Dilip led her into a three-week-long acting workshop before the shoot, which worked wonders for her range of expressions and understanding of how to give me what I needed per scene because, as you have noted, the key is emotions that just simmer under the surface. We always had very good communication with one another; we were on the same page about most things, which is why it worked out well. After we shot Second Chance, Dheera loved the experience of acting on screen so much that she decided to give it a serious shot. On account of her sheer talent, she won the Richard Boleslawski Scholarship and is now in a full-time professional acting conservatory at the Lee Strasberg Theatre & Film Institute in Los Angeles. I am sure Dheera is going to be a star one day, and I can proudly say I found her.

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DS: Even the non-professional cast adds to the verisimilitude of Second Chance. What qualities were you looking for in them during the casting? 

SM: Let me mention that every character you see on the screen is a non-professional actor, including Dheera, who at the time of shooting was not an actor but has now decided to pursue acting. 

As I came up with this story, I knew that it could only be pulled off by non-actors. Having grown up in this region, I am very sharply attuned to what is authentic there and what is not. So, the physicality of people from the upper Kullu Valley — the lines that their faces bear due to a lifetime of exposure to the harsh natural elements, their dialect and accents, their activities like spinning wool, taking care of cows and orchards, playing the game of”‘tiffi” — all of it is something I felt even the best actor would not be able to pull off. I was ready to face the consequences and dangers of dealing with non-actors as a trade-off for authenticity and realism.

While casting, I had all characters about 75 percent fleshed out. After a long casting exercise spread over two years, I finally selected the cast. I fleshed out the remaining 25 percent based on the people I had cast for the roles. Of course, the main characters here are Bhemi and Sunny, but also Raju, the shepherd (who is a real shepherd), the doctor (who is a real doctor) and the young couple, Rudra and Veda, who are a musician and a painter, respectively.  So, to answer your question while casting, I was looking at local people who fit my characters and who were photogenic and confident enough to not freeze in front of the camera. Next came auditions to test levels of aptitude for performance. And then finally everything else — were they keen, cooperative? Would they be willing to take time from their regular jobs? Would their families support their decisions, etc.? 

Ultimately, I am very happy with my entire cast and would not change any one of them if given a choice, even down to minor roles like the post office clerk and the travel agent. However, Thakri Devi, who played Bhemi, Kanav Thakur, who played Sunny, and Ganga Ram Ji, who played the shepherd, have a very special place in my heart. They trusted me wholeheartedly and gave themselves openly to a process that they did not fully understand, and in my extended interactions with them, I have learned so much! I am so grateful to have them in my life, even today.

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DS: The black-and-white images of Second Chance capture the agony of both the protagonist and her surroundings with a remarkable presence. It is a striking achievement as the story unfolds with minimal locations. How did you and your cinematographer manage to convey such depth and compassion within these constraints?  

SM: The cinematographer Swapnil Suhas Sonawane is also the executive producer of the film, as is my husband. But while shooting, we were not yet married. His associate cinematographer, Prewes Bora, has a tremendous amount of experience and expertise, and having him onboard was a boon. 

I think huge credit goes to Swapnil for getting his finger on the pulse of the story, staying with the characters and not getting carried away by the stunning Himalayan beauty, even more captivating in black and white. Not to say the mountains do not look amazing — they do in any case, no matter what. But we let ourselves romance them in the places where Nia herself is connecting with Mother Nature, who plays a vital role in her healing and resurrection. 

We were fortunate enough that our main location, which was the family summer home of Nia’s family, was in itself very cinematic and moody. It is one of the oldest surviving British-era houses in the area, and a fantastic detail heavy dressing by our production designer, Namra Parikh, only added to its charm, helping us keep this very limited space engaging enough for a whole feature film to play out in. I must mention here that both of these heads of departments did a stupendous job considering the unimaginably low budget that was allocated to both their departments. The end result truly exceeded all expectations.

Coming back to cinematography, I think we succeeded in conveying depth and compassion because we set some cinematic rules and stuck to them; primarily, we always tried to stay attuned to our central protagonist’s inner world. The decision to shoot black and white was also routed in her journey of healing from trauma, of finding light at the end of a long and dark tunnel and of understanding the paradoxes of life in the yin-yang of the natural world.

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DS: The ethos and mood of Second Chance are subtle and gloomy. As an editor, how did Tinni Mitra help maintain these elements throughout the film? 

SM: I was very lucky to find Tinni Mitra, and she agreed to edit this film. This is the first time we worked together, and now she is a good friend. She has an excellent combination of refined cinematic sensibility and endless levels of patience and is therefore a great editor.

The pacing of the film also moves with the internal journey of our protagonist. When she is only into herself, in the very beginning, it is gloomy and slow. And as she begins to awaken to the outside world and those surrounding her, the pace too thaws. At times, we as the audience feel jolted out of a despairing moment with the help of a sharp cut, as does Nia by an intervention from Sunny. 

A huge challenge was maintaining the pace we wanted while trying to keep the length tolerable. We decided to not follow the beginning, middle and ending of any scene in the film; you will either cut directly into the action and have an end or begin a scene and leave it at a suitable point without showing an ending. I think this has worked well for us. 

As far as being subtle goes, Tinni and I were always on the same page about avoiding melodrama. Some scenes were written and shot but turned out too melodramatic, and we decided to let go of them altogether. We felt it was more effective in making the audience empathize with the characters, and again, I think it has worked. 

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DS: The sound design of Second Chance is mostly diegetic and evokes the protagonist’s struggle to navigate around her immediate environment. How important was it to you to maintain this authenticity in creating the aural world of the film? 

SM: I am so glad you are asking about sound, because it’s one of the most underrated gems that a filmmaker has at their disposal. Once you have an engaging story and decent performances, nothing can add to the immersion of the audience as much as sound. I was blessed to have the most amazing sound teams, both onset and post, who threw themselves wholeheartedly into this film and created its audio world.  

One winter after the shoot, I went back to all our locations with a Zoom recorder to create a bank of natural sounds particular to the season, the area and the culture. Everyone in the village thought I was mad as I went recording the sounds of the “tandoor” stoves in their houses and the different velocities of snow winds at different times of the day on this little gadget. But for me, it was an enjoyable and meditative experience. We already had an excellent on-location sound done by Vidhaat Thothathri Raman and Rinku Pathak, and almost all of what I recorded one year later has been used to layer it to create a very unique soundscape. We have used minimal dubbing and folly; we have played as much as possible with “real” sounds, so here too we have scored on authenticity. 

I think our sound designer, Anirban Borthakur, completely nailed Nia’s internal journey in his design. Every tiny decision he made had so much thought and purpose. Our re-recording mixer, Niladri Shekar Roy, has made the balance between this internal soundscape of Nia’s phycology and the outside world rich with all the sounds of nature and her creatures seem effortless, but it requires a huge amount of skill and sensibility. 

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DS: Also, the background score of Second Chance sets the perfect mood to create a soulful experience and adeptly captures anticipation amidst despair. What was your brief to the musician duo Quan Bay? 

SM: I always knew I wanted minimal music in strings and piano at very few crucial points in the film, having heard Quanbay’s work on Bhaskar Hazarika’s Aamis (2019). They were the very first musicians I approached for background music. My brief to them was pretty much as you have said, “anticipation amongst “despair” — melancholia — but with space for optimism. As her grief and trauma process continues, there comes a time when Nia suddenly realizes that she may be fine again, and there is hope — but to hope, she has to be brave. It’s terrifying for herself to open herself up and put herself out there again. But with Bhemi and Sunny’s gentle help, she can hope, even though she stumbles time and again as the demons of her past keep coming back to haunt her. Until she faces the biggest monster in the cave towards the end and finds the strength to hold her own even against that, then she is finally healed. 

In keeping with this progression, the first track of Quan Bay that comes a little before the halfway mark of the film is titled “Hope,” and the track at the end of the film that runs through the end credits is called “Heal.”

I must also mention two other musical moments that come into the film — both songs with lyrics and both as opposite to one another as can be. One from the world of Nia — a song called “Midnight Rogue” by Shaurya Bastola, who plays Rudra in the film, is a guitar-heavy rock ’n’ roll number with twisted lyrics that plays on Nia’s mind as she’s high, proving to be the perfect backdrop for a glimpse into her messed up headspace at that moment. The other is “Oh Mamuah,” an ancient song of the Kullu Valley that is sung by our shepherd and played by Ganga Ram Ji, whose philosophical lyrics provide a poignant backdrop to fully land the ironic connection that has just been revealed between Nia, Bhemi and Sunny with relation to choice and motherhood. 

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DS: Lastly, as a debutant, how significant is it to you to have your film selected in the Promixa competition of the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival? 

SM: I am so honored to be the only filmmaker representing India in a competition this year at Karlovy Vary. I find the Proxima competition section to be very exciting, as it features new voices with bold storytelling techniques that are pushing the boundaries of cinema, and I am truly happy to be considered a part of this cohort of fiercely talented young filmmakers from different parts of the world.

I was very happy with the whole experience; the venue for the first screening was a stunning art nouveau theatre, the screen and sound quality were tops and the audience was most sensitive and generous. They clapped through the end credits and gave an emotional standing ovation once the lights came on. Some ladies had tears streaming down their faces as they clapped. I felt as if it were a dream. Every screening that followed the premiere (there were three more) ran house full and ended with massive applause. Several audience members came up to Swapnil and [I] afterwards to say how much they loved the film, and on the streets of Karlovy Vary, random people would stop Dheera and compliment her endlessly. We have gotten very positive reviews, including a beautiful one from you.

As a debutant filmmaker who has put everything on the line for the past five-odd years to make my first film, I truly treasure this experience.

Dipankar Sarkar (@Dipankar_Tezpur) is a graduate in film editing from the Film and Television Institute of India and currently based in Mumbai. As a freelancer, he frequently contributes to various Indian publications on cinema-related topics.

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