On her 2025 vision board, actor Molshri had placed an image of her film Nukkad Naatak on the Netflix homepage. A year on, the indie film is not only streaming on the platform, but also got a shoutout from filmmaker Karan Johar. How did director Tanmaya Shekhar’s indie movie, with no big studio attached to it, become a success story? Through a caravan campaign across 15 cities, said Molshri.
Molshri with director Tanmaya Shekhar and the camper van. Pic/ By Special Arrangement
According to her, the turning point came at the screening at the Kolkata International Film Festival in 2024. “Young people were relating to the questions the film asks about purpose and identity,” she recalled.
Anurag Kashyap and Imtiaz Ali. Pics/Ashish Raje, Shadab Khan
Even then, getting Nukkad Naatak released was a battle. Finally, Shekhar managed a limited theatrical release on February 27. Before that, the team led a five-week campaign that saw them go from city to city in a hand-painted caravan. They travelled from Mumbai to Baroda, Jaipur, Delhi, Agra, Kolkata, and more. Molshri shared, “We didn’t have money for billboards, hoardings, or influencer marketing. People who would charge a huge amount to make a promotional reel posted about our film for free.”
The grassroots campaign, coupled with the growing online chatter, caught the streamer’s attention, leading to its OTT release.
