Indian filmmaker Ritesh Sharma's feature directorial debut ‘The Brittle Thread (Jhini Bini Chadariya)’ is set to have its Indian premiere at the 26th International Film Festival of Kerala, the makers announced on Monday (March 14).

The trilingual drama -- Hindi, English and Hebrew -- will be screened at the competition under the Indian Cinema Now section at the movie gala, to be held in Thiruvanathapuram from March 18 to March 25.

Set in Sharma's hometown Varanasi, ‘The Brittle Thread’ follows the story of the street dancer Rani (Megha Mathur) and handloom weaver Shahdab (Muzaffar Khan), who are both fighting the hardships of life in the bustling Uttar Pradesh city.

The film revolves around a headstrong, feisty street dancer Rani, who works hard to take care of her daughter while a reclusive weaver, Shahdab, discovers a new world in his friendship with an Israeli tourist. Exploring the love and hate dimensions in the ancient city of Varanasi, their cultural and political identities come to the fore. Will the luminous fabric of our diversity soon turn into an iron curtain, dividing those who seem to belong & those who don't? Well, that’s what the film is about.

Sharma, known for his 2010 documentary film ‘The Holy Wives’ about caste-based sexual exploitation and human trafficking in India, has also written ‘The Brittle Thread’.

Other films in the Indian Cinema Now section include, ‘Shoebox’, ‘Life Is Suffering Death Is Salvation’, ‘The Mist’, ‘Deep6’, ‘Boomba Ride’, and ‘Bagh (The Tiger)’.

‘The Brittle Thread’ also stars Sivan Spector, Utkarsh Srivastava, Roopa Chaurasiya, Nishant Kumar. Shweta Nagar and Syed Iqbal Ahmed. It is produced by Visvesh Singh Sehrawat and co-produced by Sampat Singh Rathore and Abhinav Pareek. The film had its world premiere at the 34th Tokyo International Film Festival late last year.

[With Inputs From PTI]