Cow vigilante violence is like a forest fire, which no one seems to be talking about. There is so much silence around it, and we have made this film so that it is not historically hidden," says Shirley Abraham of her 18-minute documentary The Hour of Lynching, made with fellow filmmaker Amit Madheshiya. "This is the most relevant time to release the film, especially as BJP gets ready to take over again, as it encapsulates the horrific legacy of the government. It's a cautionary tale about what happens when there is ultra majoritarianism, and about what will happen now," says Madheshiya. The two Mumbai-based artistes have previously worked on The Cinema Travellers, which got the special jury prize at the Cannes Film Festival in 2016.

If their first film was about the charm of travelling cinemas, this one is about the lack of any kind of respect for human life. The documentary follows the aftermath of the murder of dairy farmer Rakbar Khan, who was killed last July as he led his cows home, in Alwar, Rajasthan. The 29-year-old, who hailed from Haryana, was allegedly lynched by a crowd on the suspicion of cow smuggling. The docu shows the plight of Khan's wife and young daughter, who are all but left bereft.