In Khilwadi — a movie about Sapna, an 11-year-old girl whose dreams of education collide with caste-bound exploitation — debut filmmaker Shobhita Thakur explores a painful reality with restraint, empathy and a commitment to responsible storytelling.

For an 11-year-old girl, childhood should be filled with the promise of education, freedom and the possibility of choosing her own future. But for Sapna, the protagonist of an independent fictional film set in Madhya Pradesh’s district, even these ordinary aspirations come at a cost.

Bright and eager to learn, Sapna belongs to the Banchhada community, where girls have been subjected to generational sexual exploitation rooted in caste and social traditions.…