Sohla Sets Foot on the Festival Circuit at PIFF, Ajanta–Ellora, and Third Eye

Some films arrive with noise, others with silence. Sohla – Celebration Under the Grey Sky arrives as a quiet undertow and slowly, it stays. The debut marathi feature by filmmaker Saaikat Bagbaan, produced by Carryon Fiilms has been officially selected for the Marathi Cinema Today section at the 24th Pune International Film Festival (15–22 January 2026) and the India Focus section at the Ajanta–Ellora International Film Festival also competing at the Marathi contemporary segment at 22nd Third eye Asian international film festival. 

 

At it’s heart, Sohla is not just a film about a ritual. It is about a boy who is forced to grow up before he is ready. Set in a small rural village where every life follows the rhythm of fields and festivals, the film follows Pashya, a young boy eagerly awaiting his Sohla, the coming-of-age ceremony meant to mark pride, masculinity, and celebration. But fate intervenes. 

 

A personal tragedy shatters the fragile excitement of the ritual, and what was meant to be a day of joy becomes a turning point of loss, responsibility, and inherited silence. Through Pashya’s eyes, Sohla observes something deeply universal: the moment when childhood ends without permission.

 Bagbaan’s direction is marked by sensitivity and patience. He does not rush grief. He allows it to sit in rooms, linger in glances, and echo in everyday routines. The film speaks through details: a look held too long, a meal eaten in silence, a ritual performed with a heavier heart. In doing so, Sohla becomes less about ceremony and more about the emotional cost of tradition, poverty, and expectation. 

 

What makes the film resonate is its refusal to dramatise pain.For Marathi cinema, Sohla represents a continuing shift towards stories rooted in lived experience rather than spectacle.

 

Its selection in major Indian festivals is not merely an accolade for a first-time feature, but an acknowledgment of a voice that trusts stillness, observation, and emotional truth. As Sohla prepares to meet audiences in festival halls, it carries with it the weight of many unsaid emotions and the warmth of collective effort. 

 

Under a grey sky, it reminds us that resilience is often inherited, not announced and that some celebrations are not loud, but deeply human. Further screenings are expected as the film continues its festival journey.

 

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