The Ink-Stained Hand and the Missing Thumb
Asian Premiere
Yashasvi Juyal India, USA, Saudi Arabia 2026 127 min PG13 (Some Coarse Language)
Toll operators and lovers Santosh and Rajji spend their days waiting and working in decrepit booths. A tragic accident upturns their quiet lives in this magical realist love story of grief and acceptance.
Rajji and Santosh are toll booth operators in the North Indian town of Nagina. The lovers spend slow days in decrepit booths accompanied by a science TV channel while dreaming of a better future. Just as their job demands them to be on the move often, the infrastructure around them sees continual transformation. When a sudden tragedy spawns a beguiling resurrection, the lives of Rajji and Santosh are also irreversibly changed.
Drawing from his experiences growing up in the upper Himalayas where the supernatural exists comfortably within the realm of reality, Yashasvi Juyal presents a magical realist love story that gently unfolds in layers of time and space, anchored by profound feelings of grief.
Asian Feature Film Competition, Q&A
27 Oct, Tue 6:00PM / 127 min
Golden Village Cineleisure, Hall 2
Asian Feature Film Competition, Q&A
29 Oct, Thu 6:00PM / 127 min
Oldham Theatre
An SGIFFriend, Industry or Cinephile Passholder?
Access your pass benefits when checking out.
AT THE FEST!
All regular screenings are on a free seating, first-come, first-served basis.
Our Festival Opening, Festival Closing, and Special Presentations will have reserved seating.
We kindly ask all ticket holders to arrive on time. Latecomers may not be guaranteed entry.
RUSH QUEUE:
For last-minute attendees, good news. Our Rush Queue is back this year!
The Ink-Stained Hand and the Missing Thumb
Yashasvi Juyal
India, USA, Saudi Arabia
2026
Hindi
English
127 min
PG13 (Some Coarse Language)
Asian Premiere
Yashasvi Juyal
Yashasvi Juyal is a filmmaker and screenwriter from Uttarakhand, India. He often brings his Himalayan heritage and folklore into his stories, introducing a Garhwali perspective to Indian filmmaking. His shorts include A Wise Crab (2015), The Last Rhododendron (2020) and Rains Don’t Make Us Happy Anymore (2025). The Ink-Stained Hand and the Missing Thumb, his feature debut, screened in the Proxima competition at Karlovy Vary.
Dheeraj Kumar,
Bhumika Dube,
Sudarshan Juyal
Sharib Khan,
Vikas Kumar,
Viraj Sikand,
Bhavna Kankaria,
Neha Kaul