We Wake Up is a powerful rap by Karma (Vivek Arora) about the bleakness of the world. While talking about the selfishness of people who are too lost in superficialities, the video subtly hints at the corruption and dissatisfaction with political and administrative leaders. Made as a reminder to wake up in the year 2019, the video also talks about how in the rat-race of getting more likes and hollow fame on social media, people are willingly closing their eyes to all that's wrong around them. But will this be the year they wake up?

We Wake Up | Short Film of the Day

As the title of the film suggests, it is a metaphor for the contemporary reality in India. By using a familial setup as an analogy for the functioning of a country, it offers a strong comment on the manner in which a democracy functions. The film exhibits competent cinematography, but the highlight still remains the questioning of the faulty system by two little brothers, unable to see past the sham of transparency and the autonomy of the individual. The brothers disagree with their parents on where they want to go for holiday. The father thus decides to put it to vote. However, is reaching a consensus by all logical, rational and ethical means, and following it through the same thing?

Democracy | Short Film of the Day

‘Yellow’, though conjures a world of lightness and energy in its title, is far from it in its intentions, and deliberately so. Employing animation and the consequent imagery it presents, clearly exhibiting investment of thought, the film tells a story about a little boy, Hari, and the many ways in which his childhood dreams and desires are shackled. 
Despite paintings and pictures on public walls, denoting an independent India, the reality is far from it. The storytelling, and the visuals it’s coupled with, remain notable strengths of the film which, in turn, emphasise the importance of education, and the devastating effects of cyclical poverty and financial trauma that gets passed down from one generation to another.

Yellow | Short Film Nominee

On Menstrual Hygiene Day, the latest video in the Blush Anthem series talks about menstruation and the manner the whole topic is dealt with in the country. Though Blush has made some wonderful videos in the recent past, there seems to be a lull in the innovation when it comes to video treatment. While this video makes a powerful comment, it sounds like one of the many voices, including their own, and thus has nothing new to say. Yes, menstruation is a taboo in India, yes, it leads to immense discrimination against women based on that, and yes, patriarchy is oppressing us like no one’s business, but didn’t we already know that?

Khoon Mera Saaf Hai | Short Film of the Day

The primary concern of the film is the compelling issue of exploring what freedom truly means, and its intricate relationship with the absence of fear. Once the narrative has conjured its idea of freedom for you, it moves forth to portray it in a concise manner by introducing us to a couple. 

The smiling lovers suddenly become very unsure of their safety in a public space like a roadside. The narrative heightens tension, only to puncture it in a way that presents its message about our contemporary reality loudly and clearly. The story is further taken home by competent performances who communicate it all with a frugal, but unequivocal verbal exchange.

Azaadi Mubarak | Short Film Nominee

Locating itself during a very pivotal moment in history, the 1947 partition of India, the short film introduces the viewer to the social milieu of the time. Using the same as the hinterland against which the narrative unfolds, the film allows its concerns to achieve a more localised, personal and intimate approach. 

 While at first glance the period drama might seem like the story of the communal tensions and the absolute chaos that ravaged the towns that were close to the soon to be mapped out India-Pakistan border, it is much more than that. It is after this realisation that the film becomes the story of an eccentric and temperamental writer who introduces us to his own stories through the dilemmas and conflicts of the characters in his mind. Their visual representation allows almost an other-worldly, surreal quality to the film. 

 As stories of entire cultures get rewritten by history, portrayed by a film whose title, Ardhviram, or semicolon, is a direct echo of something that does not denote completion in itself, where will the protagonist find himself with respect to the thoughts and experiences that consume him, as well as his personal struggles as a writer?

Ardhviram | Short Film Nominee

The film has an urgent appeal as its core intention - one of understanding different perspectives, and the extent of harm their distortion can bring about. It begins with two friends sitting on a beach, watching dogs fight among themselves. However, the lighthearted, cheery atmosphere soon takes a dark turn as conflict wriggles its way between the friends as well. The film wants to exercise and stretch its limbs in the space of metaphors to talk about the rigidity of fixed perspectives that threaten the peace and harmony of the country in the name of religion. It demands of the viewer to not force everything within the monolithic identity of black and white, and allow the subtleties of greys a chance as well in a nation that has been ravaged by intense communal violence, especially in the recent past.

Most Viewed

Genres

Awards

Follow Us

Quick Links