A Feature Film · Awaiting Premiere
Abhivyakti
Finding Their Voice
A deaf girl in a Mithila village faces a wall of apathy, until her mother defies ancient stigma to ensure her voice is finally felt.
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Finding Their Voice
A deaf girl in a Mithila village faces a wall of apathy, until her mother defies ancient stigma to ensure her voice is finally felt.
Abhivyakti (Finding Their Voice) is a 74-minute drama in Maithili, set in the rural heartland of Mithila, Bihar. The word abhivyakti means expression — and the film is an inquiry into who gets to express, and at what cost.
Kanti is a young, educated woman living temporarily in her mother's village during pregnancy. When her daughter Chutki is born, the family's first response is disappointment. When Chutki is later diagnosed with significant hearing loss, that disappointment hardens into stigma. Her husband Bikas withdraws. Kanti does not.
Over the years that follow, Kanti navigates a world with no infrastructure for her daughter's needs — no specialist nearby, no sign language in the village school, no social vocabulary for disability that isn't laced with shame. What she finds instead are quiet allies: a progressive temple priest, and a perceptive art teacher who recognises in Chutki's drawings something the curriculum has no category for.
The film builds toward a school festival. Chutki dances. Her hearing aid slips from her ear mid-stage — she does not stop. Abhivyakti does not end in celebration. It ends in witness: real voices of deaf people, whose silenced lives outnumber any single story this film could tell.
Shot in Maithili with local actors from the region. A debut feature from director Sanjay Jha.
Trailer
Teaser
Full Film
The complete feature is available on request to festival programmers, press, juries and distributors. A private Vimeo screener with English subtitles will be shared after a brief enquiry.
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Click any image to enlarge · High-res available on request
On-set photography · Click to enlarge
Vertical cuts, song moments, trailers, and Instagram shorts from the making and release of Abhivyakti. Hover to preview, click any reel to play with sound.
More on Instagram · @findingtheirvoice_thefilm
Writer · Director · Co-Producer
I am a Professor of Computer Science at the University of New South Wales, Sydney, where my research sits at the intersection of artificial intelligence and cybersecurity. So the first question I owe any audience and any programmer is: why this film, and why me?
I had watched, in families around me, what happens to children with disabilities when the system has no place for them — not cruelty, exactly, but a collective failure of imagination. The child is present but treated as absent. That gap between presence and recognition is what I wanted to put on screen.
Maithili was not a pragmatic choice. It was the only honest one. Language here is not backdrop; it is the argument the film is making. My direction was guided by restraint. In a story where the central bond is defined by the absence of conventional speech, the camera had to become the dialogue.
The film's climax — Chutki continuing her dance after her hearing aid falls from her ear mid-performance — was not written as a triumph. It was written as a fact. This is what children do when someone has taught them that their presence matters.
Abhivyakti was made to give voice to those who are often unheard. Below are organisations, resources, and support networks for the hearing-impaired community — in India, Australia, and beyond.
National and international organisations supporting deaf children, adults, and families.
Foundations working on early intervention, learning support, and inclusion for deaf and deafblind children.
Indian Sign Language research, training and accessibility tools.
Want to support the cause? Host a screening, contribute to community partners, or help amplify the film.
More resources will be added as the film tours festivals
Press coverage, festival announcements, interviews, and reviews about Abhivyakti.
Whether you are a festival programmer, press, or simply want to learn more about the film — please reach out. We respond to all enquiries within 48 hours.