The 52nd International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR), to be held from January 25 to February 5, 2023, focuses on India with a special, inquisitively titled programme, “The Shape of Things to Come?” 
Featuring both documentaries and fictional narratives from the past 30 years, it aims to reflect on the changing socio-political landscape of the country, the rise of the right wing, the growing clout of the Hindutva nationalist forces and what it portends for the future.

The 13 strong packages goes way back to 1992, to Sanjiv Shah’s musical political satire on totalitarianism Hun Hunshi Hunshilal (Love in the Time of Malaria, 1992) to world premieres of brand-new titles like Ranjan Palit’s A Knock on the Door, Shahrukhkhan Chavada’s Which Colour? and Harshad Nalawade’s Follower.

There is Kabir Khan’s mega success Bajrangi Bhaijaan (2015) about a Hindu Hanuman devotee taking a mute Pakistani girl, separated from her family, back home against the backdrop political tensions between the neighbouring countries. Then there are known and recognised works like Rakesh Sharma’s documentary Final Solution (2004) and Nandita Das’s directorial debut Firaaq (2008); both look at how the 2002 Gujarat riots impacted ordinary lives. Lalit Vachani’s The Men in the Tree (2002) takes a peep into the lives of the members of RSS and Jaideep Varma’s I Am Offended (2015) zooms in on the increasing backlash and outrage faced by the comics, all for their envelope pushing humour.   
The special focus also features Teresa Braggs’ All Was Good (2022) on the anti CAA/NRC protests in Bangalore, Mihir Fadnavis’s Lords of Lockdown on the impact of the sudden lockdown on stranded migrant labourers in Bombay, Dakxinumar Bajrange’s Sameer (2017) about an innocent young man caught in the vortex of politics and terrorism and Ashish Avikunthak’s The Kali of Emergency (2016), an avant garde rumination on how the divine manifests in the times of political turmoil. 

Festival director Vanja Kaludjercic described the programme as a “vital delve into contemporary India” aimed at “surprising our audiences with great films that underline relevant and pressing issues”.