One day a grandfather decides to write a letter to his newly born grandson. He condenses all his experiences and lessons learnt from life in a letter which this beautiful short film shares with the viewer. In a world where there is no end to headlines about hatred, pain and loss, Khat reinstills hope most poignantly. Maybe giving life a second chance is not too bad an idea. Maybe we were put here to make it a more wonderful place, even if slightly so. This short film leaves you with all of this more. It reminds you why it's important to never give up hope, to always remember to fall in love, and above all, to never stop dreaming and trying.

Khat | Short Film of the Day

This short film is not meant for a quiet, cold night when you are alone with your thoughts and their many complexities. It will offer you several voices, but only one face. As Kalki Koechlin skilfully shoulders the narrative with an unsurprisingly brilliant performance, she moves from one life situation to another with only voices of invisible characters to accompany her. Do they exist in real life or are they only a figment of her imagination? This is one of the many questions the film will not answer for you. A loose understanding of the narrative suggests a murder (probably of her dreams?) and the protagonist's perpetual struggle with the Lady Macbeth effect as she keeps washing her hands vigorously. The compulsion to earn money for an ailing family member, the constant instructions of a boss and the desperate need to hold down a job have pinned her to her desk. But is there any escape at hand?

The Job | Short Film of the Day

What happens when you have lost everything and there's no going further? That perhaps is the moment of complete freedom. Maybe an imagined duty or a forced responsibility holds you back from doing everything you want to do and being everything that you can be. However, who would you be if all your expectations were removed? This Arjun Mathur starrer attempts to answer the same. Follow the romance of a character, played most skilfully by Mathur, with his long-nurtured desires in Khudi. The music video also scores full points for the smooth intermingling of graceful cinematography with soulful music composed by The Local Train.

Khudi | Short Film of the Day

At first glance, the film is simply the story of a wooden stamp and her dreams and hopes. However, soon the narrative delves deeper and brings in a lovely comment about the idea of leaving behind a lasting imprint in your wake. The film's intentions thus come to be realized by combining the horizon of expectation set so far with the desire to be remembered in a manner that outlives your existence. 

As the skilled first-person voiceover is coupled with sophisticated visuals, together they invoke seamless poetry and beautiful lyricism. This, in turn, ensures that the portrayal and the progression of events remains efficient throughout. 

The plot development, color palettes and sound, all correspond to the same, ensuring that the entire creation comes together as a composite whole of several complementary parts, while simultaneously communicating its intentions lucidly to the viewer. The aesthetic and sense of calm it conjures is bound to stay with you long after you are done watching the film.

Ek Lakdi Thi | Short Film of the Month

The documentary, with its seamless, skilled camerawork and intelligent visual storytelling, introduces you to Parul Chauhan, a homemaker in a corner of Delhi, and her relationship with her motorcycle. Through her story and experiences, the film offers a pertinent comment on the location of women in a society where women like Chauhan are still anomalies and possible only due to a fortunate and near-perfect alignment of several moving parts - the most important of them all being a supportive family. As Chauhan takes us deeper into her world, we are introduced to how her riding allowed her to overcome several health problems. She further asserts that she hopes and plans to leave the women around her with the same indomitable spirit as her by teaching them to drive two-wheelers as well.

Journey of a Housewife to a Rider | Short Film of the Month

A Christmas Carol is a story of one afternoon and a conversation between a dejected man and a cheerfully unconcerned boy. The former has had a rough day and is in no mood for the boy's chatter. The latter, on the other hand, is unstoppable in sharing his love for dance and his approach to life. The story is notably well-written and is beautiful in its simplicity. As the two exchange their dreams and stories, a sense of hope and perseverance is invoked which is perhaps all the Christmas cheer one needs this festive season. The film is heartwarming, innocent and goes to show the importance of good narratives in determining a film's success.

A Christmas Carol | Short Film of the Day

The film is rightly titled The Ride for what a ride it is! Essentially, the premise is defined by the collision of two unlikely strangers shooting an Instagram Reel. However, within it rest several thematic concerns that bring to life a conflict between passion and practical, professional demands. It invokes the idea of virality, something that has given rise to a new currency in the contemporary world. If you do manage to accumulate a significant amount of the same, irrespective of your disdain for the medium, an important realization awaits you - that you are not as impervious to its charms as you thought. The film begins with a ride that Arjun is sharing with his colleague, one who is about to break to him a bitter news - he has been fired from his job from their agency due to his inability to deliver Reel videos according to the client's wishes. And yet, at the heels of all the despair, a pivotal development follows. Leaving this world of advertising and corporate control behind in his colleague's car, Arjun now steps into the colorful shadows of an auto whose shimmer refuses to be dulled (even in the face of Arjun's explicit request to turn off the glaring light). This marks the protagonist's journey away from his comfort zone of order and fixed ideas about creativity. It is what lies on the other side of this experience that conveys the film's core message, tying all of the aforementioned thematic concerns with an uplifting sense of hope.

The Ride | Short Film of the Month

‘Nadigar Pandi’ is a film that is sure to stay with you for a long time. It is honest and hard-hitting. The poignancy it brings to life on screen is effortless, and succeeds in creating an impactful effect on the audience. 

The eponymous protagonist is a struggling actor who has been trying his luck, and skill in the field for over three decades, as he is quick to remind and repeat throughout the course of the narrative. There is a suggestion of bitterness and resentment, but there is also integrity and self-respect. Despite all the obstacles, which include severe monetary tribulation and the ensuing practical problems, there is no regret or self-doubt about his decision to be an actor. 

The film does a seamless, elegant job of tying all of these emotions together, as well as presenting a protagonist that is powerful and unforgettable. The viewer remains engaged all along in the fate of Nadigar Pandi, who we meet on a very crucial day of his life, and cannot help, but find themselves deeply invested in what eventually follows.

Nadigar Pandi | Short Film Nominee

The metaphor of sound and its related processes - hearing, communicating, listening, comprehending and accepting - all of them together constitute the central metaphor of the narrative. The absence of these processes, the act of being able to hear each other, presents to the viewer the story of Vijay and his family. His father lives with a disability, thereby leaving the onus of fending for the family on his wife and the eldest son. 

Vijay’s younger brother, Varun, has withdrawn into his own little world, away from the many tribulations that his mother and sibling deal with on a daily basis. Vijay too leads a double life his family has no idea about. The narrative weaves all these elements together seamlessly, offering a poignant story of a broken household where each character inhabits their own realm. The performances further bolster this reality, as does the writing. 
 
Vijay’s vulnerabilities, hopes, and dreams, as well as his mother’s quiet suffering, alongside his father’s rage at an existence that has confined him to a life of immobility, are all shared in a skilled manner. The film loosens a little towards the conclusion, especially after presenting a potentially powerful climax, but that’s a wrinkle that can be overlooked in favor of everything else the plot offers.

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