Private Project

Museum of Dreams

Abhinay (Vishnu Kalta), an aspiring actor from a small village in Himachal Pradesh, has spent six years trying to survive in Mumbai’s cutthroat and unorganised film industry. Living in a cramped ghetto along the city’s polluted coast, he moves from audition to audition, sustained by fragile hope and an unwavering belief in his craft. As time passes, the city reveals its indifference. Rejection becomes routine, work remains elusive, and survival itself turns precarious. Neither fully accepted nor willing to conform, Abhinay drifts further to the margins, one among countless migrants chasing invisible opportunities in a system built on glamour yet sustained by exclusion. Shot in a raw, observational, vérité style, Museum of Dreams examines the emotional and psychological toll of prolonged uncertainty, dismantling the myth of the “city of dreams” through a quiet portrait of ambition, invisibility, and endurance.

  • Raam Sharma
    Director
    Window of Life, The Self-Test Story
  • Raam Sharma
    Writer
    Window of Life, The Self-Test Story
  • Amit Bhardwaj
    Writer
    Window of Life, The Self-Test Story
  • Kiirti Shharma
    Producer
  • Nilesh Jatwa
    Co-Producers
    Bandh (Shut)
  • Gaurav Sharda Rai
    Co-Producers
    Celestina & Lawrence
  • Raam Sharma
    Co-Producers
    Window of Life, Hearts Awash in Sapphire Light
  • Amit Bhardwaj
    Key Cast
    "Vishnu Kalta A.K.A. Abhinay"
    The Self-Test Story, Window of Life
  • Dherendra Kumar Tiwari
    Key Cast
    "Vishwas Kashyap"
    Chaman Bahaar, Virgin Bhasskar, Kathal, Kapkapiii
  • Anumeha Jain
    Key Cast
    "Shraddha Singh"
    Vitro Mates, Please Find Attached
  • Shravan Boranna
    Key Cast
    "Sanket Shukla"
    Gaanth, Tribhanga, Cookiees, U=Me
  • Harsh Vyas
    Key Cast
    "Akarshan Kumar"
    What the Folks, Hostel Daze
  • Charu Agrawal
    Key Cast
    "Meher Malik"
    Agra, Ludo
  • Vikram Kochhar
    Key Cast
    "Subodh Kumar"
    Dunki, Choona, Sacred Games, Aashram, Sumit Samhal Lega
  • Priyashanker Ghosh
    Director of Photography
    The Brittle Thread, LSD2, This Story Does Not Have A Name
  • Nilesh Jatwa
    Sound Design
    Not Today, I'm Not an actor, 4 Sum, Alpha Beta Gamma, Devi Aur Hero
  • Arun K Kiran
    Editor
    Hearts Awash in Sapphire Light, Bad News, Rana Naidu, Aashram
  • Project Title (Original Language):
    Abhinay
  • Project Type:
    Feature
  • Genres:
    Dark Comedy, Drama
  • Runtime:
    1 hour 47 minutes 29 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    November 10, 2025
  • Country of Origin:
    India
  • Country of Filming:
    India
  • Language:
    Hindi
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital 4K
  • Aspect Ratio:
    1:2.35
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    Yes
  • Student Project:
    No
  • Digital Cinema Package:
    Unavailable
Director Biography - Raam Sharma

Raam Sharma is an Indian filmmaker and screenwriter based in Mumbai. He founded Khwaabwala Films in 2019 to produce independent cinema rooted in lived experience and social observation. Before making films, he travelled extensively across India, writing and engaging with people from diverse regions and social realities, which continues to inform his filmmaking.
In Mumbai, he was associated with the Indian People’s Theatre Association (IPTA) for several years, where his engagement with performance and political theatre shaped his approach to realism and duration. His earlier works include the docufiction Man Walking Through the Window of Life (2019, unfinished) and the short film The Self-Test Story (2019).
Alongside his work as a director, he has served as Chief Assistant Director on the feature film Ghost, First Assistant Director on Unpaused: Naya Daur and the series Gunaah, and Second Assistant Director on the series Lootere and the film The Ladykiller. He has also worked as a casting associate on Chaman Bahaar, Beecham House, Four More Shots Please!, Ludo, and Bose: Dead/Alive.
Abhinay (Museum of Dreams) is his debut feature film.

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Director Statement

I came to Mumbai carrying the same promise that draws millions to the city, the belief that work, dignity, and recognition are attainable through persistence. Over time, I realised that what often goes unseen is not failure, but endurance. Museum of Dreams was born from witnessing how aspiration slowly transforms into labour, waiting, and survival inside an industry built on visibility but sustained by invisibility.
Rather than focusing on success or collapse, the film observes what lies in between: prolonged uncertainty. Abhinay’s journey is not constructed around dramatic milestones, but around repetition, auditions, rejections, silences, because this repetition defines the lived reality of most aspiring actors. The camera does not intervene or rescue; it stays. In doing so, the film resists narrative shortcuts and embraces duration as a political and emotional choice.
I chose an observational, vérité approach to strip away spectacle and romanticism. Mumbai’s film industry often sells dreams as commodities, yet behind this surface exists a vast, unorganised workforce where instability is normalised and aspiration becomes a form of unpaid labour. The film engages with this paradox quietly, allowing everyday moments to accumulate meaning without explanation or judgement.
Museum of Dreams is not a story of exceptional struggle. It is a document of a condition, of migrants who arrive with hope, remain suspended for years, and gradually disappear from view. By staying with Abhinay over six years, the film asks a simple but uncomfortable question: what happens when belief outlasts opportunity?