At the 2026 edition of the International Documentary and Short Film Festival of Kerala, filmmaker Ameya Gore is presenting a sports documentary that aims to do more than chronicle competition. 'Going Solo' follows women cyclists Gareema Shankar and Renu Singhi as they prepare for and complete the demanding London-Edinburgh-London cycling event in 2022, a race that tests not only physical stamina but also mental endurance, logistical planning, and self-belief. Produced by Sharib Khan and Vikas Kumar, the film is being positioned as a work that pushes the boundaries of what sports documentaries from India can attempt.
Beyond the Finish Line
Sports documentaries have traditionally leaned on familiar structures: the rise, the setback, the comeback, and the final triumph. Gore's film appears to move in a different direction, using the event as a framework rather than the entire story. By centring two women cyclists undertaking one of the world's most punishing endurance challenges, 'Going Solo' shifts attention from medals and rankings to the lived experience of preparation, travel, uncertainty, and persistence. That approach gives the documentary a broader cultural charge, especially in a country where women's participation in endurance sport still receives relatively limited mainstream visibility.
The London-Edinburgh-London event itself is not a conventional race built for easy cinematic treatment. It is a long-distance cycling challenge that demands navigation, self-sufficiency, and resilience over an extended route. That makes it especially well suited to documentary form, where repetition, fatigue, and small acts of determination can be as dramatic as any podium finish. In that sense, Gore's film seems designed to capture the texture of endurance rather than merely its outcome.
The choice of subjects also matters. Gareema Shankar and Renu Singhi are not framed as celebrity athletes in the conventional sense, but as riders whose journey can illuminate how women negotiate space in a sport still shaped by access, infrastructure, and social expectation. A documentary built around their experience can speak to a wider audience than cycling enthusiasts alone. It can resonate with viewers interested in women's mobility, independent travel, and the quiet radicalism of pursuing difficult goals on one's own terms.
Women, Distance, Resolve
The film's significance lies partly in its refusal to treat women's sport as a niche or symbolic category. Instead, it appears to treat the cyclists' journey as a serious athletic and human undertaking, deserving of the same narrative weight often reserved for men's sports stories. That is an important shift in Indian documentary practice, where women athletes have often been represented through inspirational shorthand rather than through layered observation.
By focusing on the 2022 ride, 'Going Solo' also captures a moment in time when endurance sport was increasingly becoming a site of self-definition. Long-distance cycling is not only about speed; it is about managing fear, weather, terrain, fatigue, and isolation. For women, those challenges are often compounded by questions of safety, access to training, and the cultural assumptions that still shape who is expected to take up space in physically demanding pursuits. A film that engages with these realities can offer more than motivation; it can offer context.
The involvement of producers Sharib Khan and Vikas Kumar suggests a collaborative effort to bring a polished, festival-ready documentary to a discerning audience. At a festival like IDSFFK, where documentary form is often evaluated for both craft and perspective, the film's appeal will likely rest on how effectively it balances athletic detail with emotional insight. The strongest sports documentaries do not merely document performance; they reveal the cost of performance, the discipline behind it, and the personal stakes that make the effort meaningful.
A Wider Documentary Shift
'Going Solo' also reflects a broader evolution in Indian non-fiction filmmaking. Audiences and festivals alike are increasingly receptive to documentaries that move beyond issue-led reportage or straightforward biography. There is growing interest in films that use a specific pursuit — in this case, endurance cycling — to explore identity, agency, and social change. Gore's project appears aligned with that trend, suggesting that sports documentaries can be intellectually ambitious without losing their emotional immediacy.
If the film lands as intended, it may help widen the conversation around how Indian filmmakers portray athletic achievement. The most compelling sports stories are often not about victory alone, but about the conditions that make victory possible. In following Shankar and Singhi across a grueling international event, 'Going Solo' seems to ask a larger question: what does it mean to choose difficulty, and what does that choice reveal about freedom, discipline, and belonging?
For IDSFFK 2026, that is a timely proposition. As documentary audiences continue to look for work that is both formally assured and socially resonant, Gore's film arrives with a clear premise and a potentially expansive emotional reach. It is not simply a cycling film. It is an argument for seeing endurance sport as a serious cinematic subject, and for recognising women athletes as protagonists in stories of ambition, vulnerability, and resolve.