Stolen
Saturday 25. 1. 2025.
18:00 – The Damned Yard Theatre
A five-month-old baby is stolen from the clutches of her mother, Jhumpa Mahato, an impoverished tribal woman. Raman Bansal, a photographer, becomes the unwitting witness to this brutal incident. Gautam Bansal, a wealthy urban brat, has come to pick up his younger brother Raman from the station. While Raman genuinely feels empathetic towards the plight of Jhumpa, Gautam hardly cares to know more about what does not concern him and believes in the pleasures of a privileged life. Their already tenuous relationship is further tested when both of them are embroiled in Jhumpa’s endeavour to search for her baby.
Director: Karan Tejpal
Screenplay: Karan Tejpal, Gaurav Dhingra, Agadbumb
Director of Photography: Isshaan Ghosh
Film Editing: Shreyas Beltangdy
Producers: Sol Bondy, Puneet Chhabra, Gaurav Dhingra
Cast: Abhishek Banerjee, Shubham, Mia Maelzer, Harish Khanna
Duration: 92’
India, 2023
About Director
Karan Tejpal
Karan Tejpal is a director and screenwriter, with two decades of experience working in the Indian film industry. His work is inspired by the opportunity to unravel tales of this complex and contradictory world. A world where brutality coexists with moments of profound humanity. Tejpal is drawn to tell stories that shed light on the harsh realities of society, exposing the vulnerabilities of the powerless and the erosion of trust in the social systems that are meant to safeguard us.
In his debut film Stolen (2023), he delves into the unwavering strength of the human spirit that rises against these fractures. His work aims to capture the complexity of changing times while instilling a sense of hope.
Tejpal started his career working in large-scale Bollywood films, and moved through a range of projects including advertising and television, until he found his niche in independent cinema.
His film initiation started as an AD on Lage Raho Munna Bhai (2006). Over the next decade, he worked on several feature films and multiple TV commercials alongside the likes of directors Raju Hirani, Rakeysh Mehra, Mrighdeep Lamba, Rajesh Mapuskar, Ayappa and Abhinay Deo. His work as a screenwriter has been recognised by the Sundance Screenwriters Lab (2016), NFDC Screenwriters Lab (2014). Tejpal studied filmmaking at the New York Film Academy.