About the Director
Mehkansh Kathuria is a multidisciplinary artist whose work spans performance, writing, directing, and commercials. His previous film Mirchi Café (2019) garnered over 20 awards and screened at more than 40 film festivals, including the Dada Saheb Phalke Film Festival. Kathuria’s artistic practice draws from diverse influences ranging from classical literature and music to contemporary visual art, creating work that challenges conventional narrative boundaries.
Director's Note
The first image that came to us was simple: a boy holding a bright pink dildo like a gun. We didn’t know the full story yet, but we knew that image said something about power, about mimicry, about how hollow our symbols of dominance really are. Dulo isn’t about childhood sentimentally, it’s about what seeps into young minds when adults have failed. It examines how easily the mechanics of war get repeated without question: the gestures, the threats, the absurd rituals of power. The word “Dulo” itself is a crude taunt. It’s exactly how wars start, through comparison, through the need to prove dominance. We wanted to make something quiet and dry, something that doesn’t scream its message but lets you sit with the discomfort. When we picture a child picking up a discarded object to feel powerful, we see the world we’ve made. This film is our attempt to examine that inheritance without judgment, allowing the image to speak for itself.
About the Producer
Ajinkya Hukerikar is a New York-based filmmaker working at the intersection of storytelling and emerging technology. At 16, he was nationally acclaimed for his debut short The Trek, earning a Special Jury Mention as “Best Little Director.” His films have screened at the International Children’s Film Festival of India and have been featured by CNN, The Times of India, and The Hindu. An NYU alumnus, Ajinkya has worked for visionary artists such as M.M. Serra, Vidhu Vinod Chopra, Sultan Sharrief, Toni Dove, and Terence Nance. He currently works at Zero Density, a leading virtual production company, where he brings technological innovation into cinematic form. His work blends traditional craft with cutting-edge tools to create immersive, visually rich narratives. Through culturally diverse and conceptually bold world-building, Ajinkya creates thought-provoking cinema that reflects the spirit of a new generation of storytellers.
Producer's Note
Dulo emerged from conversations about how children absorb and replicate the violence that surrounds them. Having grown up in Mumbai and lived across different continents since, I’ve witnessed how power dynamics manifest universally, transcending geography, culture, and language. What makes this project unique, is it’s refusal to provide comfortable resolutions. Mehkansh and I have created an experience that blends documentary realism with allegorical storytelling, letting audiences draw their own conclusions. My passion for world-building through emerging technologies made creating this story of children in a war-torn landscape particularly compelling, constructing visuals that transcend physical limitations while preserving the raw, ethnographic authenticity the narrative demands. Dulo represents cinema at its most necessary, work that excavates uncomfortable truths about contemporary society. This is bold, uncompromising storytelling that will linger in viewer’s consciousness long after the credits roll.
