I often think that the night is more alive and more richly coloured than the day," a voiceover paraphrases Vincent Van Gogh's famous quote in Hindi, referring to the Dutch artist's ruminations on the night sky studded with celestial wonders. The visuals support the narration and show a young boy sprawled about on the grass, gazing at the sky. As if on cue, the kids watching the show, too, decide to make the most of the full dome projection they are seated underneath, and lie on their backs to learn about the Great Bear constellation, North Star and Milky Way.

We are at the IES School in Dadar's Hindu Colony, where a mobile planetarium has been set up for the course of this week. The screening is part of a film festival for children under the Sky-On-Wheels project, where 14 shows on themes ranging from astronomy, archaeology, biology, earth science, natural and ancient history, are being projected on an inflatable planetarium in order to make scientific concepts more accessible to children. With shows in Hindi, Marathi and English, eight such screenings are organised every day.