When a leopard wanders into a redeveloped apartment complex in Mumbai - its natural habitat long since encroached upon - fear quickly spreads. Mumbai is the only city in the world with a forest nestled within its limits, where leopards co-exist with malls, highways, and high rises. When the leopard is found dead, 8-year-old Apu’s world begins to distort. Waagh is a tense psychological drama that explores childhood paranoia, silent fears, and the primal instincts simmering beneath the fragile surface of urban life.
Mukti Krishan is a filmmaker and writer whose work spans fiction, documentary, and animation. A graduate of Vancouver Film School, she began her career in VFX and animation before transitioning to live-action storytelling, with a focus on emotionally resonant, psychologically layered narratives. Her fiction projects have been supported by the Asia Society Fellowship Grant and the Mumbai Mantra–Sundance Institute Screenwriters Lab. As a documentary director, her work has been commissioned by Discovery, YouTube Originals, and Zee5. Her independent film Raqs-e-Inquilab, set in Kashmir, was featured on MUBI and The Atlantic Selects. In the commercial space, she has directed acclaimed campaigns for MTV, Google, Lux, and Asian Paints, among others, earning recognition including a Kyoorius Blue Elephant finalist and a Digies Award for Best Short. Across formats, Mukti’s films primarily explore themes of identity, silence, and the hidden interior lives of her characters.
The New York Indian Film Festival (NYIFF) is the oldest, most prestigious film festival screening premieres of feature, documentary and
short films made from, of, and about the Indian subcontinent in the Independent, arthouse, alternate and diaspora genres.
