When two strangers, completely opposite of each other, meet as a result of a chance encounter, new realisations and a fresh awareness of the self awaits the protagonist. Nidhi is a busy woman who runs her own cafe along a hilly road. One day, a vagrant biker, Samarth, arrives at the bistro. Impressed by the special chai, he ends up writing a little note to the chef, and thus begins their story, confined simply to handwritten notes. Through their conversation, a discussion about desires as well as the way someone chooses to live their life is invoked, leading Nidhi to understand something about her choices she perhaps had never understood before. The film is mellow and soft, and maintains the same tone throughout, first introducing the viewer to Nidhi's world, and then locating her within the several rejected and denied desires that constitute it. However, now that someone may have given her a glimpse of another way of life, is an unknown sense of happiness around the corner for her?

Chef's Special | Short Film Nominee

Two teenaged boys are looking to score some weed, and this desire leads them to a local peddler called Pablo Escobar. However, after they arrive to collect their stash, little do they know how chaotic everything is about to get. Soon, the presence of a strange, bloodied, blind character throws everything out of balance. 
A brawl ensues, ensuring that Pablo is left unconscious, while his two patrons rush out of there in a state of panic. It is at this point that the narrative truly begins to unfold, introducing the viewer to all the reasons and motivations behind the progression of events so far. The film wants to weave a plot that involves drugs, violence, cops, a wronged underdog and his eventual revenge. However, in terms of visuals, it remains a mixed bag of lucid drone shoots that establish the location, and tighter visuals that could have gained from more sharpness. On the whole, 'Panic' never lets go of its forward moving motion, and eventually answers all the questions and doubts it has raised in your mind so far. Additionally, when you are about to bid it goodbye, the film leaves you with an unexpected development at its conclusion.

Panic | Short Film Nominee

The film makes a notable attempt of weaving a narrative of uncertainty. The doubts and confusion are further reinforced emphatically at the end. It opens with a shot of a young man, arriving at the doorstep late into the night, exhausted from running. When he finally manages to get his bearings, one of the first few things that he says is about having done a wrong, a significant detail that would come to dominate the entirety of the narrative. An echo of the same would be found in the conclusion of the story. As the film progresses, it takes the viewer into an unexpected and unknown place and finally consciously leaves them struggling with more questions than it answers.

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