Baida brings sci-fi to Bhojpuri heartland

Writer Sudhanshu Rai and director Puneet Sharma on blending time travel, folklore, and local culture in their path-breaking thriller

- Aman Jain

Celebrated storyteller Sudhanshu Rai and filmmaker Puneet Sharma bring a bold new flavour to Indian cinema with Baida — a sci-fi supernatural thriller now streaming on Prime Video. Directed by Sharma and written by Rai, the film explores themes of time travel, illusion, and Indian folklore, set against the earthy backdrop of Bhojpuri culture and rural Uttar Pradesh. In an exclusive interview with The Free Press Journal, the creative duo shared how the project merges speculative fiction with cultural realism, using regional dialects, myths, and on-location shoots in Gorakhpur to craft a cinematic world that feels fresh, local, and imaginative.

While Rai calls Baida his most ambitious and genre-defying work yet, Sharma described directing it as creatively rewarding — particularly in visualising sci-fi elements like alternate dimensions within authentic rural settings. With its high-concept storytelling and strong regional identity, Baida is being hailed as a breakthrough moment for Indian genre cinema. Excerpts:

Sudhanshu Rai

Q. What motivated the tale of Baida?