Two men, employees at the local hospital, have arrived in a new town for work with their respective day and night shifts. Their living quarters have already been allotted, and they have little say in the matter, even when the strangest occurrences begin. 

The house is dusty with bad wiring and flickering lights. For one of them, who is more inclined towards astrology and a belief in the supernatural, the house seems like the perfect setting for a haunting. Additionally, the quarter has a dark history and a brutal past that includes a woman and her baby. It is in this manner that the decrepit house with its old, forgotten objects, attains a life of its own when nights become plagued with singing in a woman’s voice. 

The background score, screenplay and visual grammar construct an eerie world with seamlessness and skill. At the same time, the writing explores the many forms fear can take, and what it eventually comes to mean for both of our characters. All of these components ensure that the story is realized with impact, and that the end result conveys the film’s core message expertly, and with clarity.

Pallavi Ammal | Spotlight

The film is not easy to watch because of the hard-hitting subject matter it engages with. However, it ties this engagement with a brutality that not only forces the viewer to not look away but also sit up and pay closer attention. Right from the opening scene, a world of gender inequality is established where a woman officer has to fight battles that a man in her position would never have to. In addition to the battles at home in her marriage, she has to put up with the harassment of a male colleague, finding just as strong and relentless adversaries in the life outside of the home as well. 

The narrative ropes in notable musical choices to build its drama by the entry of a second woman, one who presents a powerful monologue and lays bare the many ways society exploits, harasses, and casually dishes out cruelty to women. The comments it makes are lucid and straightforward and manage to communicate all of the film’s intentions, especially by way of powerful performances.

Dhwani | Spotlight

Lokesh and Verma sit inside a car, discussing an imminent meeting and everything that it could entail for the younger Verma. Drawing from his many years of experience, Lokesh shares wisdom on not losing your nerve during a crucial time, and in the process forever stave off regret which can sometimes be a crumbling burden. 

A bouquet of flowers rests on the dashboard, suggesting the intimate and perhaps romantic nature of the encounter that is about to take place. The entirety of the conversation unfolds from the fixed frame perspective of a single-take, employed seamlessly to further give us a glimpse into the action that is about to follow as well as one that goes beyond the dialog and the screenplay. 

The film’s execution, storytelling, and the chemistry of its actors all portray its intentions with skill and ease. The end result in its brevity is not only entertaining and involving but also presents a narrative that is constructed with thought and attention.

LO-VE| Spotlight

Thorny plants, peeling walls, and some other dying corners of a house establish the tone of the film for the viewer. A sick man lies bedridden when he is visited by a concerned, panicked well-wisher. The man instead focuses on a plant called Junie, and continues to dismiss the entrant’s anxiety. As the story proceeds, a world marked by chronic illness, loss, grief, and immense tragedy is invoked by the viewer. 
The screenplay and performances remain tightly intertwined as one to bring forth an expert end result. The emotional spectrum is achieved with skill, offering the viewer a glimpse into relationships and familial bonds that are messy and overburdened with all kinds of complexities, and yet, they remain the most unexpected as well as powerful source of comfort.

Junie | Spotlight

The documentary takes us into the first-hand experience of Vansh Pandita, a Kashmiri Pandit, who returns to his ancestral village for the first time since his family left it in 1990. The subsequent narrative that comes to life is heartfelt and marked by earnestness. It is weaved with care and emotion and exhibits notable potential in terms of storytelling and portraying the world based on the protagonist’s interactions with it. 
The journey commences to usher in crucial perspectives about what it means to leave a home behind, and the deep scars that follow, some of which perhaps can never heal. At the same time, a sense of indomitable hope for a better future, one marked by newer, younger voices, and their dreams and aspirations, never truly leaves the film. All of these together ensure meaningfulness and sincerity in the endeavor, one that paves the path for many more to come.

Meen-mul | Spotlight

It is late into the night when a woman opens her house to an unexpected guest, a man who is wondering if she could serve him some food. As a hesitant Indu allows him into her small dhaba, the narrative deliberately perplexes the viewer as to why a sheep would willingly let the wolf deeper and deeper beyond the threshold. With Indu’s husband gone to the nearby city and no children in the marriage, she is completely alone and at the mercy of the man's malicious intentions. 

The film, borrowing its name from the iconic Hindi song that the protagonist hums, portrays all of this with notable performances, alongside the clear intent, and desire to experiment with its visual grammar. The end result succeeds in creating a sense of poetic justice, while also drawing upon the elements of thrill and horror. Additionally, it subverts the idea of who is a victim and who they victimize, paving the path for more similar storytelling endeavors in the future.

Bekarar Karke Hume... | Spotlight

Soon after it opens, the film presents a desperate knock on a door, one that sets the tone for what is to come, and what the thematic explorations are going to be. As Adamya stands at a literal doorstep, it also becomes a metaphor for his struggles as a student and son. After having performed poorly in his exams, he now battles the wrath of disappointed parents, as well as his own internal emotional turmoil. In the process, the film presents a wholehearted endeavor in engaging with how expectations to conform to the norms of society, in this particular case, of being a good student, can be extremely overwhelming. The narrative further invokes a conversation on the effects of all such stressors on mental health, and the crucial role an accepting support system can play. The storytelling experiments with its edit, screenplay, and plot construction, alongside being supported by a sincere performance of the protagonist, in portraying all of these ideas for the viewer.

Dastak | Spotlight

The film preoccupies itself with the idea of beauty, and how it can become an empowering and as well as overwhelming force in the lives of different people. The same is portrayed by giving the viewer a glimpse into the lives of three women - a mother-daughter duo, and their domestic help. A mirror, both with and without its cracks, stands as a crucial image in this portrayal. If for one woman it is nearly shattered, for another it’s completely unscathed, while for a third it has much fewer cracks. 
The three images are contrasted against one another to further pronounce the thematic concerns. When we go deeper into this troubled mother-daughter equation, a face mask becomes a portent of what is to come. The help presents another colorful and unique break from the simmering tension, roping in both colors and music. 
As a mother forces her oppressive views towards herself on her daughter, the young woman, though at the zenith of her youth, finds herself crippled by it all. The aging domestic help, on the other hand, is an unstoppable force when it comes to enjoying articles of adornment and finding a general verve for life. The narrative ties all of these components in a manner that not only offers a crucial comment on beauty and abuse but also exhibits an interesting vision, and a unique approach to storytelling; an approach that leaves one with the welcome prospect of more such fictional explorations in subsequent endeavors.

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