No stars, just street theatre: Indie film ‘Nukkad Naatak’ hits the road to reach audiences

The title card of Nukkad Naatak, the Hindi independent film written and directed by Tanmaya Shekhar, reads, “How to Enter Bollywood presents” — a nod to the film’s grassroots campaign of 25 short-form videos that built early buzz online.

The campaign emerged when Tanmaya, along with co-producer and actor Molshri, realized that making a film was only half the job. Reaching audiences without a star or a known production house was the bigger challenge.

So they took the film to the streets — literally. The team hired a caravan and traveled across 15 cities in North India to promote Nukkad Naatak, often staging street theatre performances along the way.

The approach mirrors the film’s name, which means “street play” in Hindi. By blending digital shorts with live nukkad naatak performances, the makers turned distribution into a roadshow, betting that direct connection could beat traditional star power.