In February of 2018, Kirpa Bazaar closed its doors for good. The building at number 84 on Málaga’s Carretería remains as a quiet snapshot of a neighborhood’s changing times. For 36 years, Bhagwan Karamchand, known as Paco to friends and neighbors, ran a shop that felt timeless even as the world around it shifted. When he opened the store, calculator watches were a novelty, Atari games signaled the future, and a small shop could feel like a portal to another place.
Behind every device, bulb, cable, or adapter sold over the years stood a story of migration, work, and love abroad. The journey from India to Spain shaped how Paco learned to count from one to a hundred in Spanish, and that personal thread runs through a recent documentary. The film, My Parents’ Market, follows the family through decades of change and ambition and is available on the streaming platform that hosts the project. A broader plan is now in motion: Narwani has signed agreements with DAMA and Netflix to bring the Kirpa Bazaar story to a wider audience within the Cambio de Plano film-lab initiative.
Bhagwan first arrived in Spain seeking opportunity, starting in Ceuta and later moving to Málaga where he established Kirpa, a name that expresses a sense of grace. He brought his wife Manju and her mother to join him as the family grew. Rising rents in Málaga’s Historical Center eventually forced the shop to close. Nearly four decades after its inauguration, the family still recalls the routine of waking up every morning without an alarm clock, a metaphor for the life they built together. One of Bhagwan’s sons, Rakesh Narwani, found a second calling in cinema. He studied Audiovisual Communications and now runs Objective 50, a rental and audiovisual services company. But perhaps his most meaningful project is telling his parents’ story, highlighting identity, belonging, and the life of a family far from home.
Today, Narwani is preparing a teaser for the feature film, inviting casting calls that seek people of Indian descent who speak Spanish at an intermediate to high level and have no prior acting experience. The casting will take place in two sessions, one in Benalmádena at the House of Culture on December 27, and another in Torremolinos at the Casa de la Cultura on December 28. Information about these calls will be shared through official channels connected to the project and its collaborators.
Project
The Málaga-based project involves director Marina Parés, a screenwriter from the region, and Pau Esteve Birba, a Goya Award-winning cinematographer known for the film Ane. The project has received support from multiple cultural programs and film marketplaces. Its development has benefited from showcases at Abycine Lanza and the Spanish Coproforum, and it has been backed by a foundation that supports the development of diverse Spanish audiovisual stories. The Cambio de Plano laboratory, an initiative that partners with industry players to advance new voices, is also involved. This program is associated with Checkers and Netflix and aims to provide visibility to varied narratives within Spanish cinema.
Within the Cambio de Plano jury, notable figures such as television critic and writer Bob Pop, and award-winning columnist Valentina Viso, participated in evaluating projects. Narwani, who also acted as a mentor during the program, emphasized the importance of portraying a community that has rarely been represented in Spain. He spoke about the need to observe with care while delivering a fresh perspective on the characters. The family’s story remains at the center of the conversation, and while the public’s reception will ultimately shape the final film, its core message is about identity, belonging, and shared memory across generations.