Shobhita Thakur's 'The One Who Plays' wins Best Short Film at Russia's Kazan Festival

Indian filmmaker Shobhita Thakur's 27-minute film The One Who Plays (Khilawadi) has won the Best Short Film award at the XXII Kazan International Film Festival "Altyn Minbar" in Russia. The film, which centres on Sapna, a 12-year-old girl from the denotified Banchhada community of Madhya Pradesh, explores her dream of becoming a doctor despite facing barriers of caste, gender and social exclusion.

Thakur, an FTII Pune alumna, expressed the significance of winning at Kazan, where the international jury was chaired by celebrated Iranian filmmaker Majid Majidi. "Winning at Kazan is deeply special to me because Majid Majidi Sir was the President of the Jury. There is no greater honour than to have your work seen and recognised by a filmmaker who has been a cinema guru for me," she said.

The 2026 edition of the festival received 1,030 submissions from 67 countries, with 55 films selected for the competition programme. For an independent Indian filmmaker, the award marks recognition of a story rooted in one of India's most marginalised communities on the global stage.