There are films that show women, and then there is Shuchi Talati, who turns inward — revealing what it feels like to be inside women’s minds and bodies. Asserting that desire and shame, love and resentment can co-exist, her diary-like personal storytelling has raw, uncomfortable immediacy.
Quite unlike, say, Payal Kapadia’s poetic abstraction, or Mira Nair’s expansive, social canvas, or Céline Sciamma’s controlled, stylised, painterly aesthetic, Talati leans into moments most filmmakers avoid — awkward silences, misread signals, and emotional tension that doesn’t resolve neatly.
Through pauses, glances, and restrained characters, she captures the messiness of being human.
From ‘Girls Will Be Girls’ to ‘Hidden Sun’
After the mega success of her feature debut Girls Will Be Girls (2024) — which won two prestigious Sundance awards, among others, and earned a 100% Rotten Tomatoes rating — Talati is back with a short film, this time in Japanese.
Hidden Sun, starring Pakistani actress Samiya Mumtaz and Japanese actors Kazuki Kitamura and Mieko Harada, recently premiered at the Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles (IFFLA) .
The film follows an older couple — an astrophysicist Chicago-bred Japanese husband and his moral philosopher Indian wife — who move to Japan and meet a flamenco dancer at her last show before she hangs up her boots.
How Recognition and Awards Changed Her Life
When asked how the success of Girls Will Be Girls changed her life, Talati responded with characteristic honesty.
“In some ways, they changed my life a lot. And in some other ways, not at all,” she said. “Now, I can go knock doors that were always closed to me, and they will be open because I can say Sundance, or Indie Spirit Awards, or Filmfare Awards.”
But she was quick to add that the proof will be in the pudding once she starts fundraising for her next film. “As a filmmaker, a Sundance win is validating, but it doesn’t have a huge material impact on my day-to-day filming. It’s still, creatively, very, very hard to make a good film.”
On Being Called a ‘Feminist Storyteller’
Talati embraces the label of feminist — but with nuance.
“I absolutely identify as a feminist. I would like to tell stereotype-defying stories,” she said. “But this is not how one creates. You feel your way through characters. And that’s murkier. What does this person want? What am I grappling with in my life right now that I can use this story to communicate?”
For Talati, the process is not about delivering a message — it is about exploring messy, uncomfortable truths about desire, power, and relationships.
Giving Voice to Older Characters
One of the most striking aspects of Hidden Sun is its focus on an older couple — a demographic often relegated to supporting roles in cinema.
“In our cinema, often when we see older people, they are in a supporting role to younger, attractive protagonists,” Talati observed. “They are shown as not having desires. They are willing to sacrifice themselves, whether it’s parents or grandparents.”
She finds this portrayal untrue to life. “There are people in our lives who say, ‘Oh, I may be 50 or 60, but I really feel like I’m 20 in my head.’ People still have the same insecurities. People still have desire. They can still be immature and act out and be competitive.”
For Talati, it was important to give space to that desire, competition, jealousy, pettiness, and thirst for life in a 50-something couple.
The Origin of ‘Hidden Sun’: An Adaptation
Hidden Sun is based on a chapter of a novel called Sutra Americana by Talati’s writer-friend Monona Wali, which is set to be published later in 2026.
“I was really taken by this one chapter where this couple, who are both academics and people of the mind, are taken by this dancer. And through dance they are able to express things that they might not be able to say to each other otherwise,” Talati explained.
The final dance performance — where so much that is unspoken expresses itself through physicality and movement — captivated her. She never thought she would actually make the film until a producer from Japan reached out to her as part of Japanese stationery company Kokuyo’s 120th anniversary celebration.
‘The Cinema of Desire and Discomfort’
When asked if her filmmaking could be described as “the cinema of desire and discomfort,” Talati agreed.
“That seems like a good description even though I’ve never used it myself,” she said. “The way I think about it is, putting under the microscope, desire, subtle power shifts in relationships, what happens, and how people act out of that.”
She explained that discomfort often comes from recognition. “Viewers recognise this moment. This slight competition that you might immediately have with your partner. That little cruel thing which we may do all the time in passing, I like to put that under the microscope and look at it, and that elicits discomfort and from that discomfort, sometimes, comes laughter and humour.”
Compassion for Flawed Characters
One of the most beautiful qualities of Talati’s storytelling is her ability to rescue her characters from judgment — whether the mother in Girls Will Be Girls or the older wife in Hidden Sun.
“For me, it’s very important to have compassion for all the characters that I’m writing,” she said. “Because even if they’re flawed, as long as you understand where they’re coming from, their foibles are things that you recognise in yourself and people you love.”
In workshops with actors, she often builds backstories — a memory bank of love, irritation, and annoyance to draw from.
For Hidden Sun, however, the process was different. She was directing partially in a language she doesn’t speak — Japanese. Neither of the Japanese leads speaks English. They had to improvise without a common language. Kazuki Kitamura had an English diction coach and learned the sounds of words without necessarily knowing their meanings.
The Flamenco-Japan Connection
The film places Spanish flamenco in a Japanese setting — a choice that deepens the theme of being an outsider.
“Outside of Spain, Japan is flamenco’s second home,” Talati explained. “I’ve heard people say that for societies which are controlled and repressed and where free expression of emotion is not allowed, they take to the expressive flamenco.”
Shiho Morita, a world-class Japanese flamenco dancer, choreographed the film, and composer Mao Kitagishi created an original music piece. Talati also noted that flamenco has influences from Rajasthani folk dance — a confluence that intrigued her.
Feeling Like an Outsider in Both India and America
The male protagonist in Hidden Sun says, “A cut flower is a dead flower” — a metaphorical reference to being an outsider. Talati was asked whether she feels like an outsider in America as an Indian.
“Sure, I feel like an outsider in the U.S., and then also in India, when I return,” she said. “I feel I’m from neither place. When here, I feel I’m not American, and in India, I feel I’m not seen as Indian.”
As an artist, she is not sure if this is a good thing or a bad thing. “It is just a thing.”
Short Films vs. Feature Films
Talati reflected on what makes short films unique as a form.
“The short film form allows for, sometimes, more experimentation and more things are left unsaid. Because it always is a structure of a joke. Not that it has to be funny, but it’s like there’s a setup and there’s a payoff. It can’t narratively hold more.”
But pragmatically, it also allows filmmakers to finish work faster. Girls Will Be Girls took eight years to make. Her next feature won’t take that long, she said, but will still take multiple years.
