Locating itself during a very pivotal moment in history, the 1947 partition of India, the short film introduces the viewer to the social milieu of the time. Using the same as the hinterland against which the narrative unfolds, the film allows its concerns to achieve a more localised, personal and intimate approach. 

 While at first glance the period drama might seem like the story of the communal tensions and the absolute chaos that ravaged the towns that were close to the soon to be mapped out India-Pakistan border, it is much more than that. It is after this realisation that the film becomes the story of an eccentric and temperamental writer who introduces us to his own stories through the dilemmas and conflicts of the characters in his mind. Their visual representation allows almost an other-worldly, surreal quality to the film. 

 As stories of entire cultures get rewritten by history, portrayed by a film whose title, Ardhviram, or semicolon, is a direct echo of something that does not denote completion in itself, where will the protagonist find himself with respect to the thoughts and experiences that consume him, as well as his personal struggles as a writer?

Ardhviram | Short Film Nominee

The film's world introduces you to a woman getting ready, and admiring her reflection as she awaits the arrival of her husband. However, unlike the reverie we might have been led into believing, the husband's arrival invokes a very different reality. As the viewer begins to notice the futility of Mary's efforts in the face of a distant, callous John, it becomes abundantly clear that their marriage is on the verge of collapse.
 The tension is established, the undercurrent of something deeply amiss being underfoot is set in motion, and events continue to develop until a brutal, violent event is reached. This completely changes the course of things and the anxieties suggested so far are finally allowed an explicit portrayal within the narrative.

 There is a sincere effort in the department of storytelling, even though the film loses crucial points when it comes to its sound and the smoothness of the edit. Perhaps the team could look into making the sound neater in future projects, which can then be equipped with similar attempts at sharing the narrative once more with the viewer.

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