Mahesh (name changed), 24, was born to an Adivasi family in a remote village in Dooars district in northern West Bengal. After passing the rigorous screening process, Mahesh beat hundreds of other students to get a seat at the academic table of the esteemed Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute (SRFTI) in Kolkata, where he currently studies direction and screenplay writing, inching closer to his dream of becoming a filmmaker.
But, on Sunday, 27 September, Mahesh felt like he was himself transported into a movie.
“It felt like a bad film plot, where the villains are chasing a defenceless person—he somehow runs inside his hostel and bangs on different doors until one door opens and [the person on the other side] offers him shelter, potentially saving his life. That’s what happened,” Mahesh recounted to The Quint.
It was only once he was safely inside the room of a fellow student that he realised that his back was bleeding.
“I had been slashed with a knife-like sharp object. I asked the senior who had sheltered me to take a photo. I was devastated just looking at it. The doctors later told me the wound was six inches long,” he added.
The image has since become viral on social media, garnering attention and condemnation from across the country.