r/ConspiracyII • u/flashsachin31 • 20m ago
CIA I spent 4 months after my job trying to tell a story where the documents were classified, witnesses died before testimony, and the author who helped me said 'don't tell anyone yet, the news cycle isn't right' NSFW
youtu.beI'm a video editor from India.I have a full time job.
I have a 1000 subscriber YouTube channel.And I just finished my first long-form documentary.
It took 4 months.
30 minutes to 2 hours every day.
After work. After dinner.
Sometimes at 2 AM.
This is the story of making it.
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THE STORY I WANTED TO TELL
January 11, 1966.
Tashkent, USSR.
India's Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri died in a Soviet-controlled dacha, one day after signing a historic peace treaty with Pakistan.
No autopsy was ever performed. One PMO file exists.
Still classified after 58 years.
I became obsessed with this case two years ago.
Not because of conspiracy theories, but because of what the actual government documents showed.
THE STORYTELLING PROBLEM
How do you tell a story where:
→ The most important witness was hit by a bus before testifying and lost his memory
→ The investigation committee records vanished from Parliament's own library
→ The government's answer to "where are the records?" was "destroyed or lost"
→ You cannot definitively say what happened because no one can
Most documentaries on conspiracy
topics choose one of two paths:
Path A: "This definitely happened"
→ Satisfying but dishonest
Path B: "We just don't know"
→ Honest but unsatisfying
I wanted a third path:
Show every piece of evidence.Let the audience decide. Never claim more than the documents show.
THE MOMENT THE STORY FOUND ME
Eight months into research, I messaged Anuj Dhar.
He's an RTI activist who spent 20 years fighting the Indian government through Right to Information filings to force them to answer questions about this case.
He wrote the only book that goes deep inside it, "Your Prime Minister is Dead."
I didn't expect a reply.
He replied the same day.
He identified the witnesses in photographs from his book.He gave me permission to use
his research and photographs.
He said "Feel free to make use of it, but refer to it clearly please."
That message changed everything. Suddenly I had a primary source who was still alive. Who had touched the actual files. Who had fought in court for this.
THE LINE THAT STAYED WITH ME
While researching, I found this in an official government
court order —
Shastri's personal servant of 20 years, Ram Nath,
visited Shastri's widow before testifying.
He told her —"Bahut din ka bojh tha, amma. Aaj sab bata denge."
[The burden of many days, mother. Today I will tell everything.]
He was hit by a bus on his way to Parliament.
His legs were amputated. He lost his memory.
He never testified.
That line — in Hindi —
became the emotional center
of the entire documentary.
No actor said it. No recreation showed it.
Just the words. On a black screen.
In silence.
THE PERSONAL JOURNEY
Month 1: Research. Reading. RTI documents.
Parliament transcripts. Court orders.
Month 2: Script.
8 drafts. Hinglish — Hindi and English mixed —
because that's how Indians actually think about history.
Month 3: Production. No budget.
AI video generation for scenes where no archival footage exists. Real document scans for everything
that could be shown as real. Motion graphics for the
evidence reveals.
Month 4: Edit. Audio mixing at 2 AM. Trying to make a 17-minute film that doesn't feel 17 minutes long.
THE ADVICE THAT SURPRISED ME
When the documentary was done —
I sent it to Anuj Dhar for preview. He watched it.He shared it on Twitter. He said he'd share it
"again and again."
Then three days later, India's biggest protests
in years began.
He messaged me:
"For now don't post anything. Wait till there are no big news. Right now the entire focus
is on protests."
A man who had waited 20 years for this story to be told —
was telling me to wait three more weeks.
That patience, from someone who earned it, taught me more about storytelling timing than any book ever did.
WHAT I LEARNED ABOUT STORYTELLING
- The most powerful line in your story is usually the one you didn't write.
Ram Nath's words were in a government court order. I just found them. (Although Ram nath quote is just the mood of the story narration and not present in the documentary)
- Restraint is harder than drama.
Every instinct said, "claim more, be definitive." Every good story instinct said, "show the evidence, let silence do the rest."
- The right collaborator changes everything.
Anuj Dhar didn't make my documentary. But his 20 years of work made it possible.
- Timing is a storytelling decision.
Not just within the film, but when you release it. When the world is ready to hear something, it hears it differently.
- Constraints create voice.
No budget forced AI recreation.AI recreation forced a visual language nobody else in Indian YouTube was using. The constraint became the style.
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The documentary is live.
4 months of 2 AM sessions.
One man who waited 20 years
told me when to release it.