There couldn’t have been a more ironic opening shot. The first sequence of An Engineered Dream, which won the best non-feature film at the recently announced 67th National Awards, shows a prominent spiritual guru addressing a gathering of over a lakh students at a huge ground in Kota, Rajasthan. The kids talk of loneliness and stress while the guru stresses studies and success. The large-scale event sponsored by various coaching institutes stands testimony to the aspirations of parents and their ‘engineered dreams’ for their children. The irony isn’t lost on the viewer as Hemant Gaba, the producer and director of the documentary, takes us through the lives of four teenagers, pursuing their dreams of cracking the engineering entrance exam in a city synonymous with coaching centres.