The much awaited Cannes film festival 2025 has finally begun and the films from around the world are being celebrated at this prestigious event. One of them is an independent Indie film ‘The Second Wind’, starring Indira Baikerikar, Mayura Shivalkar and Nandinee Khosla in the lead roles. The journey of making ‘The Second Wind’ and its grand premiere at Cannes 2025 is nothing short of a dream for its team. In an exclusive interview with News24, the team of The Second Wind talks about their big milestone with Cannes 2025 premiere, their journey, challenges and much more.
The Second Winds draws inspiration from the real life challenges of Indira Baikerikar, who is also the film’s writer, director and producer. Indira based the story on her daughter Mallika’s journey to recovery after a life changing event. Meanwhile, the movie also stars Mayura Shivalkar, who is a cancer and coma survivor and ran seven marathons. Nandinee Khosla, who volunteers and supports cancer patients, will be making her debut with The Second Wind.
While speaking to us about The Second Wind going to the Cannes Film Festival 2025, Indira says, “It came like both surprise and blessing. It was in the plan that I will go to Cannes one day for my film’s screening. But I didn’t know it’ll happen so soon. It really came as a surprise. I think I’m really blessed, and the team had a positive energy.”
When asked about how The Second Wild became all women-led project, Indira shares that it was not intentional. She tells us, “It just shaped up like that. When I was doing it, it was just the need of the day because I didn’t want to go and fetch for producers. So I said, let me produce. It’s my first debut. Who knows what trust they have on me? Then because it’s a sports centric and I am into sports, the other two real stories are about sports. I did speak to a lot of directors, men, women, but somehow they could not relate to what I’m trying to express it through the lenses in the film because they never never lived those lives.”
The movie is all about having second chances in life when things don’t turn out as we expect. Nandinee, as a 24-year-old, shares the lessons younger generation can take after seeing The Second Wind. She says, “I’m a 24 year old girl, and I already feel like our generation feels our first problem is our last problem. It feels so big that life can’t move on beyond it. At such a time, it’s so important to kow that this is just the beginning of a journey for you. It’s not the end. And you’re going to get there. You’re gonna try a lot. You’re going to learn a lot.”
Sharing her own journey, she adds, “Before going into it, I was recovering from my slip disc, and I thought my life was done. I was on bed rest for two months. I was like, I’m losing out on projects. And then through the course of filming this project, I realised that my problems are this much because it’s in my head. If I allow it to kind of become bigger than me, it’ll consume me completely. Just being surrounded by that kind of positive energy, it helped me also get a second wind and just go out there, do my best work. I think the byproduct is you see me and you see us in the film.”
Mayura Shivalkar, who is a cancer and coma survivor and ran seven marathons, also shares her journey of courage and talks about getting a second wind in life. She shares, “I always said that cancer didn’t bring it to my knees, and I brought it to my feet. Because, after three surgeries, eight, strong chemos, metastatic breast cancer, and 20 radiation, I’m only standing because of everybody’s love. And I always say that three R’s are important. Right treatment, Right people around you, family support, and the third one is Right doctor. So, this is actually my second wind. Only acting is difficult. Otherwise, I was very comfortable. In Ironman Triathlon, it’s a 3.8 kilometer sea swim. 180 kilometers cycling and 42 kilometers run at a stretch. In sixteen hours and thirty minutes, you have to do it.”
She adds, “I always say that’s my past. This is my future and this is the way I got my second win.”
She also advices every woman to take care of their mental and health as much as they care for other aspects in their lives. Mayura says, “Every woman should give time to herself for 45 minutes to one hour. Like we give time to husband, children or career, every woman should invest her time in sports as well for mental and physical well being.”
