There is something to be said, and mostly good things, about films which open on a note that is deliberately opposite of the direction they are headed in. The film is a paradigmatic example of the same. Our first introduction to the chirpy, cheery protagonist Adarsh is primarily through a phone call with his mother, who matches the same cheeriness. He is not the best at sports or academics, but that is a truth the mother is kept safe from. Instead, Adarsh paints for her a picture of popularity among his peers, and regales her with tales of his athletic success. 

 Inane white lies at first glance, simply serving to make the viewer smile, sometimes with and sometimes at the protagonist, these stories come to have a disconcerting echo on the rest of the narrative. As it progresses, and the rigmarole of lies gets more complex, an equally unsettling reality is unfolding at the mother’s end as well. 

 With only suggestions of domestic strife, and a longer glimpse into the unravelling of Adarsh’s tales, the film weaves its plot together. The storytelling is intelligent and heartfelt, the performances on point and the writing notably skilled. The final result of ‘Abey Chhod Na Yaar’ constructs for us a world of denial, and perhaps deliberate, perhaps involuntary, flights of fancy away from a reality that might sometimes be a little too hard and rough for the characters to accept as their truth.

Abey Chhod Na Yaar | Short Film of the Month

12th Kolkata Shorts International Film FestivaL 2023

WINNER, BEST BACKGROUND SCORE

Indo French International Film Festival 2023

WINNER, BEST EXPERIMENTAL FILM

10th Noida International Film Festival 2023

WINNER, BEST EDITING

13th Dada Saheb Phalke Film Festival 2023

HONORABLE JURY MENTION

WINNER, BEST DIRECTOR

The film evokes its world, complete with all the visual and ambient choices, with care and thought. This approach remains steadfast throughout, ensuring a beneficial consistency within the screenplay. 
The story deliberately keeps itself obscure, shuttling between the lives of two women. While one woman strives to keep the household on track, doing everything exactly as it should be, the other completely refuses to adhere to any of these rules and norms. 
The scene is initially of a rushed morning that soon incorporates a longer glimpse into the lives of all of the family members, eventually giving way to a crucial revelation about the protagonist. 


In terms of production, there is a slight roughness around the edges. However, the film is clear about the thought it wants to convey, very adroitly shouldered by the performances. The denial and repression of an identity, coupled with a sense of confinement, pronounced in the very title itself, that define the life of women in general, and of its protagonist in particular, find emphatic and unequivocal expression in the film.

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