Documentary Film Fellowships
Rough Edges and Mrinalini Mukherjee Foundation are delighted to announce that The Other Side Fellowships will support three exciting projects -
Beyond Cancer by Aiswarya Raj
Musa Majzoob by Manas
The Pilgrim Women of Malabar by Suraiya Abu
The three projects were selected from 160 incredible applications that we received for the Documentary Film Fellowships open call on the theme “The Other Side”. The jury comprising Prof. Sabeena Gadihoke, Team Rough Edges and Team Mrinalini Mukherjee Foundation reviewed and made the final selection. Each of the selected projects will receive a grant of Rs. 3 lakhs, and the filmmaker will be mentored by the Rough Edges team as they develop their film.
Beyond Cancer by Aiswarya Raj
Through her mother’s recovery from breast cancer and the lives of other women, the Film will explore the other side of illness: the overlooked ordinaries of survival. Beyond tragedy or triumph, it will reveal caregiving, bodily negotiations, silences and small joys,
creating a collective portrait that is both intimate and social.
Musa Majzoob by Manas
15th-century Sufi saint Hazrat Musa Suhag migrated from Rajasthan to Ahmedabad, transitioning into gender-queer beinghood while living with the hijra community. Dying in pursuit of divine love as a majzoob, their dargah remains in a historic cemetery. Through trans-narratives and community memory, the Film explores existential love and spiritual transcendence, from medieval to present-day Gujarat.
The Pilgrim Women of Malabar by Suraiya Abu
The Film will explore the once-in-a-lifetime pilgrimage to Mecca undertaken by Muslim women from Malabar, tracing how waiting, devotion and memory shape their spiritual journeys. Through archival materials, oral testimonies and hand-drawn animation, it will reimagine documentary as an intimate archive — evoking the sacred, transnational dimensions of women’s mobility and faith.