Here Lies Makhfi is a portrait of the 17th century Indian princess and daughter of the Mughal emperor Aurangzeb, Zeb-un-Nissa, who wrote Persian poetry under the nom de plume Makhfi (the hidden one). An enigmatic figure in Indian history and her poetry is our only window into her life.

The film positions Zeb-un-Nissa's poetic expression within the contemporary zeitgeist of neglect and selective amnesia. Tracing her work through three people – an actress recounting the memory of playing as her, a young Iranian woman reading her poetry for the first time, and a government official attempting to locate her now-lost grave. And thus, it is in rummaging in neglected buildings, abandoned homes, and decaying manuscripts that we discover the remains of an unrecorded history.