Dusk | Short Film of the Day

Short Film of the Day January 31, 2021

Dusk

By Shreya Rawat with 7.2

drama · Short Films · hindi

soty 21 finalist
The main body and drama of Dusk comes to last between the few hours of late afternoon and twilight. Marked by the sound of azaan for Asr and Maghrib, two out of the five Muslim prayer times in a day, the plot takes its time coming into its own. However, this in no way implies a heavy narrative that cannot hold the viewer’s interest.

On the contrary, after a powerful opening, achieved intelligently by simply using sounds against the unrelated visuals of a pimp smoking a cigarette or languidly occupying himself on his phone as one of his clients busies himself with a prostitute, the film makes it clear that its story is already fully-formed. It engrosses the viewer deeply and does so in its simple, quiet manner devoid completely of any ostentation or obtrusive tools.

The storytelling is quiet, but strong in the comment it wants to make. It is nothing, but simply about a few hours one evening in the life of a young woman who may not have everything going right for her, to say the least. Yet she has managed to secure a precarious, and perhaps brief, calm surrender and peace for herself.
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