Kanika Dhillon says Gandhari connects globally across 58 countries

Kanika Dhillon says Gandhari’s cross-border appeal rests on a universal mother-child emotion, helping the Taapsee Pannu-led film reach audiences across 58 countries and top Netflix’s Non-English Movies chart.

According to Dhillon, the film’s strongest bridge to international audiences is its most basic and deeply human emotion, a mother fighting to save her child. “I feel, firstly, the quintessential and very classic and very, very strong motherly emotion of mother looking for a child, mother trying to save her child, mother wanting to get her child back,” Dhillon tells Bollywood Hungama exclusively. “That’s a universal emotion that cuts across languages and barriers and the mother’s bond is very, very universal,” she says.

But Dhillon believes Gandhari’s international appeal comes from blending that universal emotion with a world rooted in Indian culture.

The film draws upon mythology, traditional storytelling, the world of behrupiyas and the cultural significance of Chomukhi Devi.

Rather than dilute these elements for an international audience, Dhillon says she made them an integral part of the narrative. “There are elements that are very, very rooted to Indian culture, Indian ethos, Indian soul,” she explains.

She adds that this approach is what helped Gandhari stand apart: the film does not attempt to look global by abandoning its Indian identity. Instead, it places a universal emotional conflict inside a distinctly Indian world. “On top of it is mounted, the mother’s emotions, so I feel the combination is very, very ripe for the story to travel beyond the Indian continent,” Dhillon says.

The success of Gandhari offers a takeaway for Indian storytelling in the streaming era: a story does not need to shed its cultural identity to connect internationally.

Note: For the full exchange, see the exclusive interview here: the original report.

The takeaway is clear: Gandhari’s cross-border appeal illustrates how deeply rooted Indian mythology and emotion can travel when anchored in a universal experience. For more DPIFF entertainment coverage, check out DPIFF’s news section or explore DPIFF’s latest newsroom coverage.