New Delhi | Bollywood veteran Naseeruddin Shah has joined "Far from Home", a short documentary revolving around the plight of Afghan refugees in India, as an executive producer.

His addition as an executive producer to the project also marks the first time for the actor to take on the role in a documentary, underscoring the film's significance and urgent message, according to a press release.

Shah said for him, documentaries have more value for posterity than features.

“I've always believed the most important function of cinema is to act as a record of its times. Since it is the only medium that can do that, I consider documentaries to be of more value for posterity than features,” Shah said in the statement.

Directed by award-winning journalist Ankita M Kumar, the documentary tells the story of Samira Faizi, an Afghan refugee woman who arrived in India in 2021 following Afghanistan's fall to the Taliban.

It explores Faizi's ongoing struggle to create a life amid a changing political landscape in India and also examines the impact of the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), which excludes Muslim refugees from pathways to citizenship, leaving Afghan refugees like Faizi.

Kumar said refugee rights is a "tricky topic" in India.

“Refugee rights is a tricky topic in India, and given the current political scenario, refugees are scared to talk or come forth in public...I am proud of Samira for her bravery in telling her story and bringing awareness across the world about the situation of Afghan refugees in India.

"When one thinks of refugees, they usually visualise them on a boat going to Europe or on the US-Mexico border. But rarely do we talk about refugees in places where there is no framework to integrate them," she added.

The film is produced by Brent E Huffman and supported by the Pulitzer Centre on Crisis Reporting.

"I am so proud to be part of 'Far from Home', a powerful and vital documentary chronicling issues facing refugees and immigrants in India, Afghanistan, around the world. Ankita Kumar is a brave new voice in documentary film who is tirelessly working to spread awareness about the plight of people like Samira and her family to help their harrowing situation," Huffman said.