An infectious energy pervades the screen every time Chika Kapadia appears on it with his share of wit and wisdom. It is hardly believable that this man, so full of life, is just a few days away from his death, on a day of his choosing. Nilesh Maniyar and Shonali Bose’s documentary ‘A Fly on the Wall’, being screened in the Long Documentary category at the 17th International Documentary and Short Film Festival (IDSFFK) captures the last days of this man and the last moments of his life on earth, which ends with a content smile on his face and a poem on his lips.Bose, who has made acclaimed films Amu (2005), Margarita with a Straw (2014) and The Sky is Pink (2019), was asked by her friend Chika to film the final week of his life at Dignitas, a physician-assisted suicide facility in Zurich, Switzerland. At 60, Chika appeared to be at the pink of his health when he was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer, which had advanced to stage 4, leaving him with the prospect of a few painful last days at a hospital. To avoid that, he chooses an early death at the assisted suicide facility. Evidently, Shonali had a difficult time seeing a close friend wither away in front of her eyes, while having to film it.“Chika, Nilesh and I were very aware that in a country like India where the right to live with dignity does not exist, the right to die with dignity is an enormous privilege. His dream was that whether it is in a small village or any other place, you should have the right to die with dignity and prevent your family from being ridden with debts due to massive hospital bills. When Chika asked me to make this film, his motive was that this issue become known,” says Ms. Bose.Filmed in iPhone with all the immediacy, intimacy and rawness of a home video, it is a deeply affecting portrayal of a man who had an unsatiated hunger for living, but at the same time was not intimidated by death. One is left with a lump in the throat several times in the film, not due to any melodramatic sequence. It is his exuberance and equanimity in the face of an imminent and quick death that hits us hard.“In a way, Chika performed his death. I say this with the highest regard for my friend. I am not putting him down. I am not saying that it is a superficial thing, but by choosing the mechanism of performance, it helped him overcome that enormous fear of taking that last sip, which would lead to his death. We heard from the Dignitas authorities that many people walk away from there, when at the last minute you have to take that drink from which there is no return. I felt what kept Chika going was that there is a camera and that it’s a performance,” she says.In between, Ms. Bose, who also appears in the film, opens up about the untimely death of her son in an accident, with the filming of the documentary turning into a sort of healing process, years after that death. ‘A Fly on the Wall’ might be a documentary on death, but it turns into a life-affirming piece of work that triggers important conversations on the right to die with dignity. Published - August 23, 2025 07:35 pm IST