Through a story narrated by its only character, the film becomes a comment on the patterns that our thoughts often involuntarily fall into. As a woman sits before a camera, recording an account about the daughter of her driver, the plot attempts an insight into the annals of the human mind. Her surprise mingles with that of the viewer as the narrative achieves completion, leaving them with the question Bindiya had set out to raise from the start. Simple in its approach, the idea behind the story and the plot deserves mention for the uniqueness that it endeavours, while also offering its views and opinions on our internal conditioning and mental makeup.

Bindiya | Short Film Nominee

The poetic narrative of Baat Kar is one of its stronger elements, along with its performance that matches the writing of the lines. The sentiment echoed in the words finds a fitting expression in the only voice that recites them, becoming the sole face on camera that the narrative allows. The film talks of a dysfunctional, toxic emotional equation where the woman finds herself unable to stay away from that object of affection which doesn't seem to be in her best interests. Despite knowing the nature of this one-sided, all-consuming addiction, she is still drawn to the very thing she absolutely must avoid. While the viewer may have been convinced so far that she speaks of a lover, there is indeed an unexpected development awaiting them regarding the truth of the matter.

Baat Kar | Short Film Nominee

Paying homage and celebrating the real-life bravery of fifteen-year-old Jyoti Kumari who cycled from one state to another with her wounded father in the wake of the coronavirus lockdown, the short film does its bit to enrich the conversation on the indomitable human spirit. While the global health crisis may have resulted in a disturbing reality that has rendered even the strongest powerless, the insurmountable human will and perseverance have also emerged alongside it. With the protagonist's performance as its most notable strength, the short film puts forth a narrative that aims to engage with all of these concerns and aspects of contemporary reality, leaving the viewer with the motivation to never give up.

Shakti | Short Film Nominee

A woman recounts an incident of sexual violation that she had faced in childhood. She tells the camera
that this was the first time she was talking about it. It happened to her when she was ten years old, and
now she has a daughter who is older than that. If the film were a documentary, this would have been
called oral storytelling. But despite being a fictionalised account, the story feels real, her acting
convincing. This is because the tale that she narrates is all too common. Acts of violence against women
in public are visible, and therefore acknowledged, but what happens behind closed doors remains a
secret that most often women are burdened to carry all their lives. 
The woman tries to convince the listener that she is over her pain. It happened a long time ago, and
happiness has found its way into her heart. But unspoken, unshared trauma is like an unhealed wound,
it doesn’t go away by closing your eyes to it. It is the telling of the pain, and its acknowledgment that
begins the process of healing for the survivor, and the film delivers that point.

Hide & Seek | Short Film Nominee

A middle-aged woman, strikes up a conversation with a stranger and ends up confiding her whole life
story to them. The only voice, the only face we see in the film is hers. She could have well just been
speaking to her own self. The woman goes through the beats of the whole emotional gamut in the span
of a brief conversation. The actor playing the separated woman is so elegant that the viewer doesn’t
even mind watching only her on screen. 
However, the film on the whole looks more put together than the organic earnestness it wants to achieve.

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