For nearly eight years, Deepali Kamble barely stepped outside her home. After losing her vision at the age of 14, fear slowly took over her life. The now 29-year-old spent years battling isolation, anxiety, and depression, believing her future had come to a standstill.

Today, however, she stands as the captain of Pune’s women’s blind football team, a symbol of courage, resilience, and hope. 

Her remarkable journey now forms the emotional heart of a moving documentary titled VOY: The Unseen Journey of Women's Blind Footballers of India, directed by first-time filmmaker Raj Bipin Malde.

The documentary shines a spotlight not just on blind football in India but also on the silent emotional struggles visually impaired women often endure long before they ever enter the field.

When Football Changed Everything

For Kamble, football became far more than a sport. “It gave me confidence, purpose and the courage to move ahead despite every difficulty,” she said.

The documentary follows the lives of athletes associated with Mai Bal Bhavan, an NGO sheltering differently abled children, tracing their journeys from self-doubt and social isolation to representing their state and country in blind football tournaments. Many of these women come from backgrounds where disability often meant invisibility. But on the football field, they discovered independence, friendship, and a renewed sense of identity.

Over the years, Pune’s women’s blind football team has emerged as one of India’s strongest squads despite limited funding and infrastructure.

In 2022, the team won gold at the national women’s blind football tournament organised by the Indian Blind Football Federation. Since then, the athletes have travelled internationally for tournaments and training camps.

A Filmmaker’s Mission to Tell an Unheard Story

For Malde, the documentary began as a diploma project but quickly evolved into something much more personal and meaningful. Balancing film school with a part-time job at a sports store, he first met the players through their coach and spent days simply talking to them before filming began.

Malde said that he even once blindfolded himself and tried to play football and that experience stayed with him. That is when he realised how much we underestimate sight.

Shot over three days between June and July 2024, the documentary was completed in January 2025 after months of interviews and conversations with blind football experts and federation members.

Winning Hearts Across Film Festivals

Since its release, VOY has travelled to more than 15 national and international film festivals, earning praise for its honest and emotional storytelling. The documentary has been screened at prestigious festivals including the Bangkok Thai International Film Festival, Mumbai International Film Festival, and Jharkhand National Film Festival. It also won in the Differently Abled Film category at the Kenya International Sports Film Festival. 

More Than a Game

What makes VOY truly powerful is that it is not just about football. It is about not letting a setback affect one's life. It is about a sport creating space for voices that often go unheard. For Deepali Kamble and her teammates, football did something extraordinary — it gave them their lives back. And through this documentary, their unseen journey is finally being seen by the world.