INTERVIEW | Subhadra Mahajan On Her Beautiful, Still, And Quietly Bracing Second Chance
In conversation with ETV Bharat, Subhadra Mahajan opens up about Second Chance, her directorial debut that won Best Screenplay at New York Indian Film Festival.
By Minal Rudra
Published : June 25, 2025 at 2:49 PM IST
|Updated : June 25, 2025 at 4:30 PM IST
A frantic voice message is heard while screen remains blank. A young woman is pleading with her boyfriend who has seemingly ghosted her. She's terrified and desperate for a response.
Cut to a stark Himalayan mountaintop. Nia, a 25-year-old woman, stands motionless in the biting winter air, gazing at the snow-clad peaks. The silence is broken by the sound of paper being torn. Shreds of a medical report revealing a pregnancy drift away in the wind. The opening scene reveals that Delhi-based Nia carries the unbearable weight of an illicit abortion that has broken her spirit. She has retreated to her remote mountain home to conceal this painful secret. So begins Second Chance, Subhadra Mahajan’s deeply observant directorial debut.
A festival darling, the film has travelled the globe. From Karlovy Vary to Busan and now makes its way to Indian cinemas, thanks to independent studio Platoon One. It released on June 13, 2025, in Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore, Pune, and Kochi, with more cities to follow in the coming weeks.
On a transcontinental phone call from New York, where she was attending the New York Indian Film Festival (where Second Chance just won Best Screenplay) Subhadra Mahajan is warm and thoughtful. The joy of the NYIFF win lingers in her voice so does confidence in a story that, she says, "only I could have told."
A Story Rooted in Two Worlds
"I have grown up in Himachal Pradesh," Subhadra begins. "That’s where I was born and raised. I spent my childhood in different parts of the Himalayas. The valley where Second Chance is shot...I've walked those trails. Later I moved to Mumbai for college, and that's where I discovered cinema. So, in a sense, I've lived between two very different worlds... the chaotic urban pulse of cities like Mumbai and Delhi, and the raw and slow pahadi life. Second Chance is also about what happens when these two worlds meet."
And these two worlds do meet in the unlikely bond shared by three characters: Nia, played by the stunningly emotive Dheera Johnson; Bhemi ji, the 70-year-old matriarch who sees more than she lets on, portrayed with raw authenticity by Thakri Devi; and Sunny, the mischievous seven-year-old full of life and energy, played by Kanav Thakur. His innocence slowly chips away at Nia’s emotional armour. “It’s a story about healing,” Subhadra says, “but not in a dramatic, overnight kind of way. It’s slow... it’s in the silences, in the little routines.”
Five Years to Bloom
Subhadra began writing Second Chance in early 2019. “All in all, it took about five years,” she recalls. “From the first draft to the location recce, casting, workshops, shooting, editing, post-production, and then finally submitting to festivals.”
The world premiere took place in July 2024 at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival, followed by the Asia premiere at Busan. The film has since travelled to over 25 festivals, including AFI Fest, São Paulo, and the International Film Festival of Kerala.
Finding the House With Character
The house where the film is set plays a character of its own. “It’s in a place called Naggar in Kullu. I looked at many homes, but this one was special for it is one of the last remaining colonial structures in the area. It had a sense of isolation and history, which suited Nia’s state of mind perfectly.”
Subhadra says that she knew what she was looking for when she set the canvas in mountains. “I believe location affects emotion. The Himalayas, especially in winter, have a way of stripping you down to your barest feelings.”
Grief as a Way of Living
In Second Chance, grief is momentous. It haunts and crushes Nia but eventually helps her grow. “I think that sense of lingering grief comes from what I’ve seen in Millennials and Generation Z (Gen Z), go through,” Subhadra reflects. “We are materially comfortable but there’s a restlessness, a disconnection. We’ve got all the options, but sometimes no direction. And when you're dealing with something like an abortion which is legal but socially so taboo...it becomes an emotional minefield.”
Toning Down the Pain
Interestingly, Nia’s pain was too much in the film’s first cut. “In the original edit, the first 20 minutes stretched to almost an hour. Everyone who saw it felt she was wallowing in self-pity,” Subhadra admits. “So I realised less is more. You don’t need to hammer it in. One quiet look, one unspoken moment and that's it’s enough," says the debutant director.
This minimalism makes Second Chance resonate even more. You feel Nia’s pain not through dramatic monologues, but in her hesitation, her long silences, the way she gingerly handles an old childhood doll. In her reluctance to eat, to respond to the warmth that Bhemi and Sunny offer so naturally. The 104-minute film draws you in slowly, gently. Much like the snow-clad landscape it’s set in. Beautiful, still, and quietly bracing.
Casting from the Mountains
Remarkably, Second Chance is made entirely with non-actors. “Everyone you see on screen is facing the camera for the first time,” Subhadra says. “I had an incredible acting coach, Dilip Shankar, who trained them. But what mattered most was their authenticity. The lines on their faces, the way they move, the way they speak...it can’t be faked.”
Thakri Devi, who plays Bhemi, was discovered from Burwa after an extensive search across villages in Manali. “I was looking for someone who wouldn’t flinch at the camera, wouldn’t perform, just be. And Thakri Devi had that rare quality. She’s not acting. She’s living on screen.”
Sunny, too, was found in the same village. “I met Kanav when he was just four. By the time we shot, he was the perfect age...still innocent, but sharp enough to take direction. It took me a whole year to become his friend before I could direct him.”
Seeing in Black and White
Why black and white? Subhadra doesn't hesitate. “From the very beginning, I could only imagine this story in black and white. It reflects Nia’s emotional journey about finding light in darkness. And visually, it strips away the spectacle of the Himalayas, allowing us to focus on the people. You stop looking at the embroidery on a shawl and start seeing the sadness in someone’s eyes.”
The monochrome aesthetic, shot by Swapnil S. Sonawane (Monica O My Darling, Newton), gives the film a quiet, poetic weight.
Rural Wisdom, Urban Pain
Despite the rural-urban, age, and class divides, Second Chance never pits one life against the other. “That was never the idea,” Subhadra says. “I wanted to show all sides without judgement. There’s strength in Bhemi’s hard-earned wisdom, and there’s pain in Nia’s confusion. Both are real.”
She continues, “There’s a scene where Bhemi learns about Nia’s abortion. There’s no judgment...what she has for Nia is quiet empathy and care. That was very intentional. Older women are often shown as conservative or harsh, but many of them have lived through trauma themselves and that makes them compassionate.”
Quiet Power of Gentleness
While Second Chance doesn’t wear its politics on its sleeve, it’s deeply feminist in spirit. “I don’t believe feminism always has to be loud,” Subhadra says. “There’s strength in grace, in tenderness. Bhemi, especially, embodies that. She’s an archetypal Indian woman, yet incredibly strong.”
The film touches on motherhood, grief, loneliness, and the quiet resilience required to survive in a chaotic world. “We’re in a time where loneliness can be deadly,” Subhadra adds. “It’s a silent epidemic, especially among young urban people. And I think the small, everyday struggles need to be talked about as much as the big, headline-worthy ones.”
A Second Chance for All
So, what does the title mean to her? “Initially, it was just about Nia,” Subhadra admits. “But as the script developed, I realised everyone in the film is getting a second chance...Bhemi, Sunny, even the audience, in a way. We’re all broken. But life has a way of surprising us.”
And that, perhaps, is the enduring gift of Second Chance. A film that whispers rather than shouts, that invites you to look closely, and to believe that there is always hope on the other side of sorrow.
“Everything passes and there’s always a tomorrow," says Subhadra as she concludes.
Second Chance is currently playing in select theatres across India.
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