How Santosh Davakhar turned a childhood memory into Oscar-bound Gondhal

6 min readNov 14, 2026 10:25 AM IST First published on: Nov 14, 2026 at 10:25 AM IST

THIS WEEK, Santosh Davakhar left Mumbai for the US where he will be holding a host of special screenings for his debut feature, the Marathi-language Gondhal, India’s official entry for the Best International Feature Film category at the Oscars. His campaign in the US coincides with the return of this psychological thriller to theatres across India a year after its release.

Davakhar may have always set his eyes on a global stage but the story of his film is rooted deeply in a local folk culture and performance. As a child, Davakhar would accompany his grandfather to all-night Gondhal rituals in the Nashik region of Maharashtra. One of the oldest folk art forms of the state, Gondhal is performed to invoke local deities such as Goddess Bhavani and King Khandoba. The performers, known as ‘Gondhalis’, often dressed in traditional attire play folk music instruments and sing devotional songs.