Sapan Film Club: Bani Singh’s award-winning documentary ‘Taangh’ – register to watch free

Southasia Peace Action Network, Sapan, invites you to an exclusive film screening of award-winning documentary Taangh / Longing on 18-20 November, 2022, followed by a Zoom meeting with the filmmaker Bani Singh.

The pilot screening of our new Sapan Film Club, Taangh/Longing is a documentary about Bani’s father Grahnandan ‘Nandy’ Singh, Olympian hockey player and 1947 Partition survivor. 

The film covers Bani’s journey from Delhi and Kolkata to Mumbai and finally Lahore to connect with her father’s old friends on both sides of the border — hockey mates who went from being in the same team before Partition to arch rivals as their land got split into India and Pakistan.

The film gives us a glimpse of Nandy’s experience as being part of the legendary hockey team that struck Olympic gold in 1948, even as its players still struggled to come to terms with the trauma and conflict that they had experienced a year earlier.

During the process of uncovering lost friendships and traumatic new beginnings, Bani, a Bengaluru-based industrial designer, connects with her family’s roots in Lahore, and with the memories of Partition that scarred her father’s generation forever.

Released earlier this year, the film has already won awards for the best documentary at the 2022 New York Indian Film Festival and best film at Film South Asia 2022, Kathmandu.

The 90-minute documentary will be available to view virtually between 18-20 November, 2022. After signing up you will be able to view it using a unique password. Watch at your own pace over a 48-hour period.

You will also have an opportunity to meet and chat with Bani Singh through a Zoom meeting organised by Sapan on 20 November, 2022.

Film screening opens: Friday, 18 November 2022, 2 pm IST

Film screening ends: Sunday, 20 November 2022, 8 pm IST

Zoom meeting with Bani Singh: Sunday, 20 November 2022, 8 pm IST 

(9.30 am ET / 2.30 pm GMT / 7.30 pm PKT / 8 pm SLT / 8.30 pm BST)

UPDATE, 20 November 2022: Though the film screening and Zoom meeting with Bani Singh has now ended (and it was a very vibrant and heartwarming meeting!), Bani has allowed registrants to view the film for free for one more day. Click the registration link below:

While the film is available for free for all registrants, you are welcome to make any amount of donation you are comfortable with. Bani has graciously offered 100% of the proceeds from the film screening to fund Sapan.

The next film screening by Sapan Film Club will take place in January 2023. Sign up to receive Sapan updates by email. 

Note on Southasia as one word: Following the lead of Himal Southasian, Sapan uses ‘Southasia’ as one word, “seeking to restore some of the historical unity of our common living space, without wishing any violence on the existing nation states”. Writing Sapan like this rather than all caps makes it a word that means ‘dream’.