Film: Secret of a Mountain Serpent — “Il segreto di un serpente di montagna”
Biennale College Cinema
Synopsis. Set in a remote Himalayan town during the Kargil War, Secret of a Mountain Serpent tells the intimate story of Barkha, a schoolteacher whose husband is away at the border. In a place where most men are gone and the days echo with silence, Barkha finds herself drawn to Manik Guho, a mysterious outsider who disrupts the fragile balance of waiting, restraint, and myth. As his presence reawakens long- buried yearnings — in Barkha and the other women of the village — a whispered local folklore comes alive: a serpent that lives in the forbidden river, still waiting after a thousand years for the promise of love unkept. This is a poetic exploration of desire and freedom, where myth and memory blur, inviting both women and men into a deeply sensual, haunting journey through love, longing, and transformation.
Director’s Statement. I wanted to explore the desires that women carry silently — desires that may not break into escape, but pulse beneath the skin. Secret of a Mountain Serpent is a story that speaks not just to women but to anyone who has ever lived between duty and longing. It asks: Can you belong to someone, and still belong to yourself? Using nature, folklore, and emotion as storytelling tools, I have shaped a world in which desire itself becomes a mythic force — a serpent of transformation that can never be captured or silenced.
| Director: | Nidhi Saxena |
| Production: | Forest Flower Films (Vimukthi Jayasundara) |
| Running Time: | 108’ |
| Language: | Hindi |
| Country: | India, Sri Lanka |
| Main Cast: | Trimala Adhikari, Adil Hussain, Pushpendra Singh, Richa Meena, Aaradhya Mehta, Rashmi Kandpal, Paru Upreti, Heeraballabh Kandpal |
| Screenplay: | Nidhi Saxena |
| Cinematographer: | Vikas Urs |
| Editor: | Saman Alvitigala |
| Production Designer: | Avni Goyal |
| Costume Designer: | Avni Goyal |
| Music: | Nishant Ramteke |
| Sound: | Neeraj Gera |
| Visual Effects: | Pratik Umale |
