From provocative fiction to powerful grassroots screenings and a festival of global cultures—meet the quiet revolutionaries reshaping India’s creative landscape beyond the spotlight of the mainstream. By The Daily Eye Newsdesk

While mainstream media often overlooks the quieter revolutions shaping our cultural landscape, platforms like Versova Homage Screenings (VHS), the Culture Cinema Film Festival (C2F2), and Rajeev Anand’s bold literary debut Kink, Virgin & Cannabis are reshaping Indian creativity. These initiatives champion independent voices, diverse narratives, and cultural storytelling—from grassroots community screenings to global film dialogues and genre-defying fiction. Whether you're a film lover, literature enthusiast, or advocate of cultural diversity, these powerful expressions of art and cinema offer a refreshing alternative to celebrity-driven entertainment and reaffirm the importance of authentic storytelling in today’s rapidly shifting world.

While the mainstream media flutters endlessly around celebrity events and glitzy festivals, a quieter, richer world of creative expression pulses with urgency and meaning just beneath the surface. This is the world The Daily Eye has always championed—where artists and storytellers build powerful narratives with little fanfare but deep impact. Today, we bring you three extraordinary initiatives: a bold literary debut, a filmmaker-led community screening movement, and a cultural film festival dedicated to global dialogue.

C2F2: A Cinematic Celebration of Cultural Diversity

While global film festivals often gravitate toward star-studded red carpets, the Culture Cinema Film Festival (C2F2) focuses on something far more vital—preserving and promoting the cultural DNA of our world. Launched during the pandemic, C2F2 is now in its 5th edition and has grown into a powerful annual event held on May 21st, in alignment with the United Nations’ World Day for Cultural Diversity for Dialogue and Development.

What makes C2F2 unique is its format and focus. This is a festival with deep intent—films are screened across university campuses, conversations are held with global filmmakers, and students are encouraged to engage with stories of rituals, myths, customs, history, medicine, folklore, and the spiritual and philosophical frameworks that shape societies.

The 5th edition will be held on August 12–13, 2025 at Amity University, Mumbai. It will feature a wide range of films across 21 cultural categories—from traditional attire and architecture to taboo topics and tribal wisdom. Each category awards a Best Film citation, and one film is selected for the “Film of the Festival” with a $501 cash award.

C2F2 is not only a festival but also an educational experience. Through its “C2F2-in-the-Campus” program, the festival reaches students in India’s academic institutions, building curiosity, appreciation, and respect for global cultures and filmmaking traditions.

“This year, the jury includes filmmakers, academics, and writers from across the world, many of them affiliated with the International Centre of Films for Children and Young People (CIFEJ). Our festival entries are closing by 15th July”, says Festival Director Praveen Nagda.

You can enter your films for competition here below:

https://filmfreeway.com/CultureCinema

Visit the C2F2 website
Follow them on social media

Versova Homage Screenings: A Community Cinema Movement

Amid the hyper-commercialisation of movie-going experiences, Versova Homage Screenings (VHS) offers an oasis. Founded by filmmaker Rohan K Mehta, VHS is a not-for-profit, community-led initiative where cinephiles gather to watch films and have in-depth, heartful conversations with the artists who made them.

Every screening at VHS is deliberately intimate—an antidote to rushed Q&As and social-media-first promotions. Filmmakers, cast, and crew are present. Dialogues are slow and deep, and films are chosen for their cultural relevance and craft. VHS is an attempt to keep alive the soul of cinema—not just as entertainment, but as reflection, resistance, and renewal.

The platform recently made a leap by sharing one of its post-screening discussions online: a powerful conversation between cinematic legends Saeed Akhtar Mirza and Sudhir Mishra, held after the screening of Salim Langde Pe Mat Ro. It’s a conversation about memory, protest, and the relevance of cinema in our fractured present—one that deserves to be watched and widely shared.

VHS is built on love, not commerce; on community, not competition.

On July 10, they screened Parikrama by Goutam Ghose at PVR—yet another example of how they bring thoughtful films into spaces usually reserved for blockbusters.

Watch the VHS conversation with Mirza and Mishra
Subscribe to the channel
Follow VHS on Instagram

A Book That Defies Genre and Convention

Rajeev Anand’s debut literary collection, Kink, Virgin & Cannabis, is a breath of bold, unfiltered air in a literary market saturated with formulaic fiction. A vivid anthology of short stories, the book seamlessly swings between genres—time travel, paranormal, erotica, mystery, romance, psychological thrillers—without losing coherence or heart. Each story is a standalone experience, designed to surprise, provoke, and linger long after you’ve turned the final page.

What makes Rajeev Anand’s journey even more compelling is his own life path. A mechanical engineer and MBA graduate, Rajeev began as a charismatic radio jockey before diving into acting and content creation. With a portfolio that spans television, commercials, and film, he’s now adding literature to his toolkit of expression. What sets Kink, Virgin & Cannabis apart is its refusal to conform. These are not safe, sanitized tales; they pulse with human complexity and raw, emotional truth.

From sensuality to sorrow, satire to the surreal, the book reflects the vast spectrum of lived experiences—especially those we often hesitate to speak about. Rajeev's stories are deeply cinematic in their pacing and visual in their description, making it easy to imagine them leaping onto screen someday.

Explore the book here
Visual glimpse

Why These Stories Matter

What do a genre-bending book, a filmmaker-run screening community, and a culture-driven film festival have in common? They’re all building new ecosystems—of thought, empathy, and expression—outside the machinery of the mainstream.

They offer alternatives to sensationalist clickbait and shallow storytelling. They nurture deep readers, reflective viewers, and conscious creators. They inspire us to slow down, look closer, and listen better.

The Daily Eye remains committed to spotlighting these undercurrents—because this is where real change happens, where new stories are born, and where the future of meaningful creativity is being shaped.

Let’s amplify them.