A man paints the face of his beloved who he has invited to his house for the first time. Nothing is as it seems remains the driving idea of the narrative which offers characters and circumstances far from the truth. 

When left by herself at his house, the woman busies herself cooking an elaborate dish. However, curiosity gets the better of her, and she ends up unlocking doors that should have remained shut for her own good. 

As she comes face to face with her lover’s violent secrets, a similarly gory and bloody fate awaits her. The film offers a sincere endeavor of giving its own individual twist to the story of a serial killer, supported by its actors, while the conclusion harbors some more unexpected developments within its core.

Wedding Ring | Short Film Nominee

The story is of a single afternoon and how matters come to a head after a particular phone call. A mother, after sending her daughter to school, goes about her daily chores when suddenly she gets a call about her daughter's abduction. The kidnapper leaves a little present of the child's dolls at her doorstep to drive the message home. The narrative tries hard to sustain a sense of unease and tension, but doesn't manage to go all the way through with it. The writing and the story are its strongest parts and just when the viewer is made to believe the climax is over, another unexpected twist awaits them, making the film come a full circle.

The Phonecall | Short Film Nominee

The film opens with the abduction of a schoolgirl by two men named Faizal and Kabir. There is an ulterior motive to this abduction which goes beyond a simple ransom exchange. Right at the onset, this intention is revealed to the viewer. Simultaneously, in a quick reversal of fortune, things take a turn for the worse for the kidnappers, and chaos ensues. 
At the level of story and writing, the film brings in several twists and turns - unexpected and constructed in their own time. It predominantly utilizes a single physical space, and three characters, to share all the swiftly developing drama with the viewer. There is a further attempt to rope in action, violence, and an element of shock. The visual language remains the most notable aspect of the end result. 

All along, the fate of the girl hangs in balance with the uncertainty being dispelled at the film’s conclusion. There is also an important character trajectory awaiting this movement, one that would come to affect and influence the eventual outcome for more than one character.

Agwah | Short Film Nominee

Attempting an engagement with the ideas of identity, gender, reflection and how one chooses to see oneself, the film invokes a narrative that is constituted by suspense and violence. The story unfolds gradually to come into its own and leaves the viewer with the protagonist's struggle to free himself from his own confinements.

Magic Mirror | Lockdown Film Challenge

As the conversation around misogyny and women's safety gains more and more relevance, the short film does its bit to further the same. The narrative takes the viewer directly into the heart of action and portrays for us a scene of abduction. As a woman is held captive by two men, the plot endeavors to hold a mirror to society, and its deep-set, problematic notions about women and their location within it. 

Alongside this, the forward movement of the plot continues, continuing to question these extremely destructive forces, while also showing a character who refuses to be a meek, coy being deprived of agency. The various elements are eventually tied together and presented to the viewer, ensuring that the message is shared in an unequivocal manner.

Lipstick | Short Film Nominee

The story of the film opens on a dark note, both literally and figuratively. A seemingly homeless man, perhaps out on a trip of rag-picking, stumbles across an unconscious girl along an isolated road. Since her limbs are tied and her mouth is covered with tape, she is completely at his mercy. However, despite the atmosphere of foreboding being established so far, not only does he untie her, but also comes across as being indifferent to her presence. The first thing the girl mentions when she is untied is to ask for a phone while showing little to no signs of unease with the strange man before her. We learn more about her as the narrative progresses, revealing her to be a TikTok celebrity. At the same time, the film also wants to tell a story of sociopaths, violence and brutal deaths. Though it could have achieved this a little more effortlessly with better utilisation of its lighting, and visual clarity, all of these elements still eventually come together to give way to a very sinister set of events in an attempt to horrify its audience.

Gumnaam Badnaam | Short Film Nominee

A little girl cries in darkness while a homeless man devours food he has procured by means unknown to the viewer. While the former becomes an image of turmoil and innocence, the latter carries with it a sense of something being deeply amiss. 

 The girl longs for her father after the recent divorce of her parents, and in her agony, slips out of the house looking for him in the loneliness of the night. The world is often very unkind to the weak and unprotected as is proven true in the case of the child as well. 

 The film aims to conjure a story of abduction, assault and violence inflicted on children by a grown man, all the while reminding the viewer that reality might not always be what it seems. The predator may lurk in a corner we might have dismissed as one marked by safety, while a saviour and protector might be someone you least expected to be thus at first glance, underlines the plot.

Theera Nisi | Short Film Nominee

The setting is of a lonely street at night where a man is busy on his phone, completely oblivious of another malicious man who observes and tails him. The situation soon ends in an abduction. However, despite the grimness of the tone set so far, the narrative turns out to be marked by humor, confusion, insecurities about one's skills as a criminal and the utter chaos the abduction results in. The film is a sweet story of two unlikely men ending up sharing their work troubles with each other, and tries to bring in uniqueness in the portrayal of the same. It would have, however, benefited from a better control on its lighting and sound.

Quit-man | Short Film Nominee

The short film is the age-old story of fragile male ego, patriarchal oppression and a false sense of power that needs to be reenforced consistently. It is about a jilted lover abducting the woman who has turned him down in no equivocal terms. The thought to abduct her is planted in his head by his friend, leading to her physical and sexual assault. Unsure of what to do with her once they are done ravishing her, they subject her to a gory death, further emphasising the brutality of their nature and the violence inherent in the very act of the assault. The film wants to add to the conversation around gender, but does not entirely go all the way in achieving it. Additionally, the storytelling would have gained from fine-tuning of the visuals and the narrative.

Most Viewed

Genres

Awards

Follow Us

Quick Links