At the International Documentary and Short Film Festival of Kerala 2026, filmmaker Ameya Gore is positioning his documentary 'Going Solo' as more than a record of athletic achievement. The film, produced by Sharib Khan and Vikas Kumar, follows women cyclists Gareema Shankar and Renu Singhi as they prepare for and undertake the demanding London-Edinburgh-London cycling event in 2022, a test of stamina that stretches far beyond conventional competitive sport. In Gore's telling, the project is as much about endurance, identity and self-definition as it is about distance covered on a bicycle.
Beyond Race Coverage
Sports documentaries in India have often gravitated toward familiar formulas: the rise of a champion, the drama of competition, the emotional payoff of victory. Gore's framing of 'Going Solo' suggests a deliberate move away from that template. By centring two women cyclists and their long-distance ride, the film shifts attention from podiums and scoreboards to the less visible labour of preparation, persistence and mental resilience. That approach gives the documentary a wider cultural reach, allowing it to speak not only to cycling enthusiasts but also to viewers interested in how women claim space in physically demanding, male-dominated arenas.
The London-Edinburgh-London event itself is a fitting subject for that kind of treatment. It is not a spectacle built around instant gratification; it is an endurance challenge that rewards discipline, planning and the ability to withstand isolation and fatigue. In documentary terms, that makes it fertile ground for a filmmaker seeking nuance. Rather than compressing the story into a simple triumph narrative, Gore appears to be using the event to examine what it means to pursue a goal that is difficult to measure in cinematic shorthand.
Women At The Centre
The decision to follow Gareema Shankar and Renu Singhi is also significant in the broader context of Indian non-fiction cinema. Women athletes have increasingly become central to stories about sport, but they are still too often framed through exceptionalism alone, as though their participation must always be explained against a backdrop of social resistance. 'Going Solo' appears to widen that lens. The documentary's interest lies not only in the fact that these cyclists are women, but in the texture of their journey: the training, the logistics, the uncertainty and the emotional discipline required to attempt a major international endurance event.
That shift matters because it changes the grammar of sports storytelling. Instead of treating women's participation as a novelty, the film seems to present it as a serious, sustained athletic pursuit worthy of the same cinematic attention long afforded to men's sport. In doing so, it aligns with a growing body of Indian documentary work that is less interested in inspirational shorthand and more committed to complexity, process and lived experience.
For IDSFFK, a festival known for showcasing formally ambitious and socially engaged non-fiction, the film fits neatly into a programming environment that rewards experimentation. Gore's comments about pushing the boundaries of sports documentaries point to a wider creative ambition: to make a film that is observational without being flat, intimate without becoming sentimental, and athletic without reducing the subjects to mere symbols of grit.
A Wider Documentary Shift
'Going Solo' also arrives at a moment when Indian audiences are increasingly receptive to documentaries that move beyond issue-led reporting and into character-driven storytelling. The film's subject matter offers a bridge between sport and culture, between personal aspiration and public representation. That is where its likely impact lies. It does not simply document a race; it examines the emotional and physical architecture behind an endurance challenge, and the ways in which that challenge can become a statement of agency.
The involvement of producers Sharib Khan and Vikas Kumar adds another layer to the project's profile, underscoring the collaborative nature of contemporary documentary production in India. As the film gains visibility at IDSFFK 2026, it is likely to be read as part of a broader movement in which Indian filmmakers are testing the limits of genre, form and subject matter. Gore's work suggests that sports documentaries need not be confined to the logic of winning and losing. They can also be about movement, self-belief and the quiet radicalism of continuing when the finish line is still far away.
For now, 'Going Solo' stands out as a documentary with both athletic and artistic ambition. By following two women through one of endurance cycling's most demanding events, Ameya Gore is making a case for a different kind of sports film: one that treats effort itself as the story, and endurance as a form of narrative power.