The Bombay Trilogy, 1st movie : Thin Air by Ashim Ahluwalia (42′)

By turns darkly comic and unsettling, Thin Air chronicles the lives of three magicians against the backdrop of contemporary Bombay: middle-aged Magician Shailendra is a prosaic, small-time entertainer whose entire world hinges on the belief that his audience loves him; 12-year-old child-wonder Kruti Parekh is “the world’s youngest magician and India’s first test-tube baby”; and long-forgotten legend Niranjan Mathur is a fading conjurer, who, having lost his popularity, is gradually beginning to lapse into dementia.
This unique documentary traces, with humour and compassion, the urgent desperation of ordinary individuals to make an imprint on the world. Counterpointing the candy-coloured interiors of middle-class Bombay with the uneasy currents swirling around the characters, this film captures a rarely-documented side of Indian life.
Thin Air ultimately offers a refreshingly complex vision of urban living through three illusionists who have little option but to confront reality.

In partnership with Dharamshala International Film Festival and The Root Reel