Varun: Believe is actually set in an alternative land, which serves as an allegory for our land. It is ostensibly the story about an author whose book causes someone to commit suicide and he seeks redemption. When most people hear about the premise of Believe, they think it to be quite dark, which it can be said it is. It touches upon the themes of depression, suicide, death sexual violence, abuse of religious power and politics. However, what is as striking and important about Believe is not the realistic depiction of these themes and their intense psychological implications, but the portrayal of an idea: a timeless, indestructible idea that our history matters, that we can use the seeds that were sown in our dark pasts, both individual and collective, and nurture it so that it blooms into something that bends towards the light. It then becomes a story of hope, of friendship, of spirituality, about persevering in the face of calamity and insurmountable odds.