Deepika Narayan Bharadwaj is ready to premier a film that took three years to make about subjects who refused to be the focus of the story. How does one tell a tale when the protagonist refuses to be, well, the hero of the idea?

Men falsely accused of rape have been a concern and interest for the Delhi-based activist-filmmaker for long. And in a country that seems to be grappling with the problem of fake rape cases, there would be thousands of subjects for Bharadwaj to pursue. Except, none were ready to speak. “Although the accusation was blatantly false, and the men had all the evidence along with a clean chit from the police and judiciary, they feared that the other party would go in appeal if they discussed the case,” she says on the eve of the premier of India’s Sons at Bandra’s St Andrew’s auditorium.