Film-maker and IIT-Kharagpur graduate Samarth Mahajan was born in Dinanagar, a village in Gurdaspur, approximately 16 km from the thread that divides India and Pakistan. His maternal family had migrated from Lahore after Independence, and his bedtime stories often included tales of the Partition.

"Despite living in a fairly remote region, I had a regular childhood," says the 27-year-old. But, the revelation of birthplace would almost always elicit intriguing reactions from peers. "People who have grown up in the mainland derive [their] perspective of life on the borders based on what the media projects. Hence, it becomes difficult to imagine a life beyond the general image of terrorism, war and army-men in these areas. It never occurred to me that I was living in an area that the mainland looks at with a completely different mindset," he says.