A song prepared me for a film I did not know I needed. What came up in the cinema hall was not just about the film.

For 17 days a song had been running in my playlist without me knowing where it came from. When I found out it was from a film, I booked the late night show before I could argue with myself. I told myself I would deal with whatever came up inside the hall.

What came up was a promise I made in Calcutta at 16 that I never kept. The film is about an old Sikh man dying in Chandigarh while his mind refuses to leave Sargodha - and the promise he made to a girl named Afsana in 1947. He tries to return twice. Reaches her door both times. Does not knock.

I understood him completely. More than I wanted to.

I wrote about it afterward - about the song, the decision to watch, what the film cracked open, and the promise I never kept. Sharing the piece here because I think the structure might interest this community - how to write about a film without making it a film review.