Bringing together tales of people from six different border regions of the Indian subcontinent, ‘Borderlands’, directed by non-fiction filmmaker Samarth Mahajan, reminds the viewer of the tender humanist connections that bind the society, rendering political borders porous for many. The award-winning documentary is a ‘Camera and Shorts’ and ‘Rainshine Entertainment’ production. The film has made rounds at multiple film national and international festivals and will be screened at Mumbai’s Prithvi Theatre this Friday.

An enlightening attempt at urging people to think beyond the binary of the establishments that raise political fences, it is also a multi-faceted film unfolding layers of invisible borders of gender, sex and ability that divide the society. From the story of Deepa, a Pakistani-Hindu migrant living along the Jodhpur border, who aspires to become a nurse and has to adapt to a completely new education system to that of Dhauli, a Bangladeshi migrant in a border town Nargaon yearning to meet her family from across the border once a year and Noor, a Bangladeshi girl trafficked to India, who finds love in another woman in the shelter home and explores her bi-sexuality, while awaiting repatriation; the tales are personal and intimate.