After nine years in the service, tonight is a momentous one for Alok, a cop who is about to meet Manohar Pandey, a very crucial figure in the world he inhabits. As the plot develops, it presents a moral dilemma. Manohar begins to narrate a story from a couple of years ago, and a palpable intrigue takes over the film. Something is underfoot, something deeply amiss. 

As ideas of right and wrong, and an overarching sense of justice are painted for the viewer, the question that locates itself at the heart of the story becomes what is the best path of reaching the right decision - a traditional one, or something far more brutal? All of this is portrayed with remarkable writing, imbuing the narrative with authenticity, alongside a screenplay construction that enhances it with equal vigour. 

The performances are unmissable, and the background score is created with care. At the film’s conclusion awaits a terrible development, but one that is impossible to look away from.

Praarambh  | Short Film of the Month

Several stories in media and cinema have endeavored to portray Mumbai and everything that it harbors within its many folds. Welcome to Mumbai is one such attempt that makes a protagonist out of the city itself when it's viewed from the point of view of an outsider. The duration of the film, at the same time, becomes the trajectory of his journey from being an outsider to one of Mumbai's own. 

 Lallan, a wide-eyed, gullible man from Uttar Pradesh, finds himself making his way into the city of dreams. On his first day itself, he is delegated an important errand, one that also gives us the MacGuffin of the plot - a bag that has to be delivered to someone seemingly important. When Lallan arrives to deliver the parcel, a delay causes him to wander around to kill time, and thus begins a set of misadventures he is not prepared for. 

 As the narrative moves back and forth and shares his experiences of the day, it invokes all the quintessential elements of the city - from local trains to free advice from strangers to a rocky seaside to the infamous lack of time and its constant mention in conversations. However, naive, unsuspecting Lallan, who has just begun to step out of his native state, finds himself on terribly shaky grounds. As his innocence soon turns to paranoia and cynicism, the film finally reveals its cards, but will the revelation be for better or worse?

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