April 10, 2025 at 11:30:00 PM
AFS Cinema
Online May 2 - 4

Photo courtesy: Film Heritage Foundation
Indie Meme Special 10th Year
Retrospective Showcase
Nirmalya
USA | Short
2024 | 18 mins | Marathi,English
Limited tickets available on site.
An Indian family in the USA is confronted with a difficult decision regarding the future of their newborn child. What choice will they make, and what factors will influence their decision?

Film Heritage Foundation used the best surviving elements for the restoration – the original camera negative and the 35 mm print preserved at the NFDC – NFAI. Unfortunately, the sound negative was not available. We digitized the sound from the 35 mm print preserved at Film Heritage Foundation. The film elements were repaired by the Film Heritage Foundation conservators and the scanning was done in Prasad Lab in Chennai We found that due to the deterioration of the print, there were vertical green lines on many parts of the film. While the scanning and digital clean-up was done at Prasad under the supervision of L’Immagine Ritrovata in Bologna, the grading, sound restoration and mastering was done at the lab in Bologna. Both Shyam Benegal and Govind Nihalani, the cinematographer of the film, have been involved in the restoration of the film.
Restoration Process
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Photo courtesy: Film Heritage Foundation
The screening will be preceded by a performance by Specific Thing.
Specific Thing is the project of local musician Román. Sometimes he plays by himself and sometimes he plays with his snazzy band — he loves to do both! And the music? It draws from folk, punk, pop, latin, communism, animals, friends... He likes to keep it cartoony, quick, and catchy. The band released an album in 2025 called "Now Is Actually Not A Good Time". Find more at @specificthing on Instagram.
Meet Specific Thing

About the Artist

Photo courtesy:
Film Heritage Foundation
Aniket grew up in Kolhapur, Maharashtra with aspirations of storytelling through cinema. Throughout his career as a software engineer, he has continued to chase his filmmaking dream, creating short films in his free time. Over the years, he has taken on various roles, including director, editor, cinematographer and producer, in numerous short films.
His work has been recognized with several awards. Most recently, he directed and edited a short film titled Nirmalya, which premiered at the California Theater in San Jose as part of the North American Film Association’s Marathi Film Festival. Nirmalya was also screened at the Pune International Film Festival on February 16, 2025, the official festival of the Government of Maharashtra.

Photo courtesy: Film Heritage Foundation
Trailer
Credits
Director:
Aniket Chandrakant Dhavale
Writer:
Dr. Bhagyashree Barlingay
Mukund Marathe
Gautam Pangu
Producers:
North American Film Association
Film Editor:
Aniket Chandrakant Dhavale
Priyanka Shinde Jachak
Saurabh Jachak
Radhika Hingwe
Sakshi Pingle
Ashley Hufford
Alex Pina
D'ann Connelly
Michael Edenbaum
Joseph Branch
Monica Dani
Restoration Effort Led By: Shivendra Singh Dungarpur, Director, Film Heritage Foundation
Restoration Credit:
Restored by Film Heritage Foundation in association with Gujarat Co-operative Milk Marketing Federation Ltd.(Amul), the cinematographer Govind Nihalani and the director Shyam Benegal. Funding supported by Gujarat Co-operative Milk Marketing Federation Ltd.(Amul)