This article appeared in the April 25, 2025 edition of The Film Comment Letter, our free weekly newsletter featuring original film criticism and writing. Vakratunda Swaha (Ashish Avikunthak, 2010)Prismatic Ground, the New York–based festival of experimental documentary and avant-garde film, is honoring Indian filmmakers Kumar Shahani and Ashish Avikunthak in its upcoming fifth edition. Shahani and, to a lesser extent, Avikunthak have both been associated with the Parallel Cinema movement in India. For Avikunthak, this rejection is a matter of religious ritual. Audiences at Prismatic Ground will have the chance to discover two singular artists whose works, despite their seeming hermeticism, stand in serious dialogue with the politics of their times.