The Jogja-NETPAC Asian Film Festival (JAFF) 2025 hosted the Asian Premiere of Flames, a gripping and quietly devastating Indian survival thriller that has already captured the attention of critics and audiences alike. Written and directed by emerging Haryana filmmaker Ravi Shankar Kaushik, FLAMES marks his feature debut, following his acclaimed short film Chuhedaani (Mousetrap).
Speaking ahead of the premiere, Kaushik explained, “I wanted to tell a story about survival through the eyes of people who rarely find representation on screen. The idea for Flames began from a very personal space for me, but the film truly came to life when I met like-minded individuals who believed in the story and chose to support it. I had always envisioned shooting it in rural Northern India, against the layers of societal constructs that shape real lives every day.”
Produced by Suparn S Varma, Rashi Aggarwal, Sunniil Jain, Aditya Joshi, and Shivam Gupta, and co-produced by IT professionals Jasdev Singh and Arpita Raghuwanshi, the film combines the creative strengths of Alankritaa and Cult Digital to create one of the standout South Asian films of the festival.
Shot in the textured farmlands of northern India, Flames is an intimate portrait of a family pushed to the edge, exploring survival, societal pressures, and human resilience. The film stars Vikram Kochhar (Boong, No Land’s Man), whose restrained yet powerful performance anchors the story, supported by a cast of first-time actors from the villages of Jatauli and Lohari in Haryana. This blend of professional and non-professional talent gives the film an authenticity that resonates deeply on screen.
Cinematographer Anshul Uniyal, editor Manendra Lodhi, sound designers Yatrik Dave and Amet Vikram Bhandari, and composer Advait Nemlekar contribute to the film’s tense, layered, and immersive visual and auditory experience. Its taut storytelling and commitment to realism reflect Kaushik’s vision of telling socially grounded narratives that rarely find representation in mainstream cinema.
The film was widely praised at Film Bazaar 2024 and was a Work-in-Progress finalist at the inaugural Tasveer Film Market in Seattle.
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