Real encounter in India shaped Abhivyakti

Professor Sanjay Jha, a cyber security academic at UNSW, has written, directed and produced Abhivyakti (Finding Their Voice), a drama about disability, stigma and belonging in rural India.

Jha is a member of the UNSW Institute for Cyber Security in the School of Computer Science and Engineering. He trained in engineering and artificial intelligence before making the Maithili-language film.

Abhivyakti is set in rural India and uses Maithili, a language spoken by more than 20 million people in Bihar and Nepal.

At the centre of the story is Kanti, who returns to her family village to have her first child. When her daughter Chutki is born, the family reacts with disappointment because the baby is not a son.

That reaction worsens after Chutki is diagnosed with significant hearing loss. Kanti then fights the future that society has already written for her daughter.

Jha developed the screenplay after a family gathering in India, where he met a deaf-mute man in his 30s who had received no medical support or intervention.

On a flight from India to Australia, Jha began shaping the script around that encounter and the lack of early help for disability.

“His life wasn’t particularly good,” Jha said. “I tried to explore whether he could get an implant, but it was a bit too late.”

That experience became the trigger for the film. Jha said it pushed him to raise awareness about disability through a story set in a village community.

Mumbai editors and WhatsApp casting

With no funding and no prior filmmaking experience, Jha assembled a local cast of theatre actors. Some had also worked in indie films.

Meanwhile, he ran casting calls over WhatsApp from Sydney in the evenings so the timing matched India.

He later hired a professional post-production team in Mumbai. The group included editors from Netflix and graduates of the Film and Television Institute of India.

Jha had started building film skills earlier. In 2016, he took a summer film course at the Australian Film, Television and Radio Institute.

Several of Jha’s own portraits appear in the closing credits of Abhivyakti. Another visual detail came from a childlike sketch of the UNSW Quadrangle that he spotted on a PhD student’s desk.

“There’s a scene where the girl draws a building across the pond… Showing her potential beyond art,” he said.

Jha said he photographed the basic drawing of the Quad building and used that style in the film. He also studies tabla, has taken golf lessons and learned Indian vocal singing.

Discussions with Australian families also informed the script. Those talks covered deafness, hearing implants, deaf identity and other disabilities.