Pavagada history and UFO fiction in Bengaluru filmmaker’s new docufiction

A contemporary UFO encounter sends two researchers and a local explorer across Pavagada in Sashi Sivramkrishna’s new film, *The Incidents at Pawgur, 1830*.

The Bengaluru-based economist and documentary filmmaker uses a documentary-style format for a story that follows the group as it retraces the route of 19th-century British surveyor John Warren. The central characters and plot are fictional, but the film draws on Pavagada’s real prehistoric sites, menhirs, forts and colonial-era history.

Sivramkrishna developed the idea in June and July 2025 after gathering inputs from Shiva, an explorer familiar with the terrain. He began filming in February 2026 after completing location reconnaissance and permissions. The production took five outdoor shooting days at sites in the region and three days for staged interviews in Bengaluru.

Released on July 4, the film was recently screened at the Bangalore International Centre. It has also been selected for OFFNI Cine Fest 2026 in Buenos Aires. Sivramkrishna’s earlier films include *The Curse of Talakad*, *A Looming Past* and *The Indigo Factory*.