Behind The Ears, a documentary that talks about invisible disability, is having its international premiere on August 17 at the Indian Film Festival of Melbourne. The film marks the debut feature of Namya Chadha. It explores the life experiences of Janhavi and Lavannya, who have difficulty hearing. The film narrates their personal struggles with respect to adapting to a society where not everyone is welcoming. Namya uses her close association with the two women and her own hearing difficulty to paint a broad picture of what it means to live with an invisible disability. With the documentary, she looks at deepening the understanding of experiences of people with hearing concerns. She talked to us about her approach towards the making of the film and treating its core subject.
How did you structure the film to highlight Janhavi’s journey of self-discovery alongside Lavannya's experience with a disability? What do you hope the audience takes away from seeing these two contrasting narratives?
My main approach was to allow Janhavi and Lavannya's narratives to unfold naturally, giving each story the space it needed to be authentic. Janhavi’s journey is more about self-discovery, while Lavannya’s centres on redefining her identity. I structured the film to ensure a transition between their stories in a way that lets the contrasts speak for themselves—sometimes through differences in tone, pace, and visual language, and other times through moments where their experiences quietly overlap.
This balance was possible because of the trust we built. Lavannya was my college roommate, and Janhavi came into my life through our mentors. That trust created space for candid, emotionally honest conversations. I avoided shaping their stories into a single 'inspirational' arc because I wanted vulnerability and resilience to coexist. I made sure to show these qualities in pauses, humour, and everyday choices, not just in moments of hardship or triumph.
By showing these two narratives side by side, my hope is that audiences see there’s no single way to navigate life with a disability. Each journey is personal and complex, shaped by the individual, not just the label. I want the audience to feel empathy, recognise the importance of accessibility, and work towards creating more inclusive and supportive communities where everyone’s abilities are valued.
How did your personal journey shape your approach to telling Janhavi and Lavannya’s stories, and how did you balance that personal experience with a directorial perspective?
As someone with an invisible hearing disability, my personal journey significantly shaped my approach to documenting Janhavi and Lavannya’s stories. It gave me a deeper emotional connection and understanding of the complexities involved in navigating identity, vulnerability, and resilience in a society that often misunderstands hearing disability.
At the same time, balancing this personal resonance with my role as a director required conscious care. I made it a priority to create a safe, open space where Janhavi and Lavannya could share their experiences in their own voices, without my perspective overshadowing theirs. Maintaining this balance allowed the film to honour their journeys while reflecting the “person-first” principle, ensuring the narrative was respectful, genuine, and inclusive.
Bong Joon-ho once discussed subtitles being a cultural barrier. Your film also touches upon it. How did you reconcile it with your film’s portrayal of subtitles as a fundamental tool for accessibility?
For many people, subtitles are seen as an optional feature, something that can enhance a viewing experience or help with foreign-language films. But for deaf and hard-of-hearing audiences, subtitles are non-negotiable — they’re the bridge that makes communication possible. In Behind the Ears, I approached subtitles not as an add-on but as an integral part of the storytelling, ensuring they conveyed tone, mood, and context, not just words. By doing so, I wanted to show that accessibility can enrich the film for everyone, while also acknowledging that for some viewers, it’s the only way the story can truly be heard.
Your film prioritises accessibility. Did you see subtitles as a creative element from the beginning, and how did Lavannya’s experience influence your decisions about subtitles?
Given the film’s focus on invisible disabilities and accessibility, I viewed subtitles as an essential creative element from the very beginning. Providing SDH (Subtitles for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing) that include not only dialogue but also descriptions of background sounds, music, and character actions was always my priority. This approach ensures that the film is accessible and engaging for a wide audience.
Regarding Lavannya’s lived experience, while the decision to use SDH subtitles was made early on as part of the film’s overall accessibility plan, her perspective as a person with a hearing disability reaffirmed the importance of making these subtitles comprehensive and sensitive to the needs of viewers who wear hearing aids.
Throughout the production, from video calls to editing, I personally managed the transcription and subtitling. I believe accessibility starts even before filming, by openly discussing the needs of everyone involved.
As a filmmaker with a disability, how did you navigate the dynamics of telling similar stories? What unique challenges or insights did that shared understanding bring?
My time at NID taught me to see film not just as a medium for storytelling but as a collaborative tool for empowerment, dialogue, and change. So my approach was to follow a participatory documentary process, i.e., seeing film as a collaborative effort with my protagonists. The focus was on the stories they wanted to tell and the aspects of their lives they wanted to share, shaped by their own aesthetics. I began with one central question: What makes you, you?
Our shared understanding as individuals with lived experiences of disability helped build trust and allowed for open conversations. This created a space where we could speak about disability, challenge stigma, and empower each other. I saw my role as both collaborator and listener, ensuring their agency was respected at every step. The process revealed not only our shared struggles but also the diversity of perspectives, experiences, and identities.
Is self-acceptance a destination or a continuous process? How do Janhavi and Lavannya's stories answer that question?
Janhavi and Lavannya’s stories illustrate that self-acceptance and identity are not destinations but an evolving journey. As a filmmaker and someone with a similar experience, I see redefining oneself as a continuous process—one that evolves over time with new experiences and insights.
How did your academic paper, 'Directing and Understanding Disability through Filmmaking’ influence your directorial choices for Behind the Ears?
During my film studies at NID, my mentor, Dr Shilpa Das, encouraged me to write my first academic paper based on my debut documentary, Vaani, and how I navigate sound in my bachelor's studies. Presenting it at conferences made me aware of the invisible disabilities and the need for nuanced representation. This shaped Behind the Ears, where I adopted a participatory documentary approach, guided by the social model of disability, to avoid “inspiration porn” and instead portray the ordinary yet layered realities of our lives.
How did your diverse experiences—from growing up in Meerut, India, to studying in Jerusalem—influence your storytelling and your perspective on disability?
I grew up in Meerut, where my early years shaped how I understood communication and difference. Later, studying at the National Institute of Design in Ahmedabad exposed me to a diverse mix of people and ideas, which started to influence my storytelling. In my fifth semester, I took part in an exchange programme abroad at the Bezalel Academy of Jerusalem, which gave me the opportunity to adapt to a completely new cultural environment. Travelling between different places and even countries taught me to navigate spaces with varying levels of awareness about hearing disabilities.
In some places, I found more understanding and accessibility, while in others, the societal perception was shaped by unfamiliarity or stereotypes. I learnt to adapt in all these situations, sometimes by explaining my needs directly, sometimes by adjusting.
Then, in between all of this, COVID-19 arrived. The pandemic made the challenges of being deaf or hard of hearing even more visible. Lipreading became impossible with masks, online meetings often lacked captions, and everyday communication became harder. These experiences deepened my sensitivity towards accessibility in communication, which is something that inevitably shapes my films.
In Behind the Ears, those layers of personal adaptation, cultural perception, and the heightened visibility of these barriers during the pandemic all inform how I approach the story and the people in it.