A hiking and camping enthusiast, known throughout the film as the Pilgrim, leaves his humble abode in the serene, milky depths of hills in search of the answer to an important question. In his journey to the Kumbh mela, he is joined by a chance companion he finds en route. 
As they converse, we learn about a life of alcoholism, the road to sobriety, trysts with meditation and the sum total of all of these events in the form of the protagonist's current existence. The ensuing unsaid understanding and companionship between the two promises a newer perspective of the world and acts as an unconscious guide in the protagonist's endeavor to achieve the answer he seeks. 

Despite the constantly changing physical backdrops, the final result of the short film essentially becomes a series of conversations - between two people, another with the character and the self, and lastly, one between the narrative and the viewer. 
There is the desire and attempt to engage with philosophical underpinnings, questions which are raised by the protagonist himself for the audience's benefit. There is sincerity as well in interacting with all of these concerns. The narrative comes across more as the first steps, albeit taken in the right direction, at the start of their journey in the current moment and in its present form. It is undoubtedly a welcome prospect to have further explorations of the thematic concerns dealt with in The Pilgrim in future projects by the team.

The Pilgrim | Short Film Nominee

The short film adopts the tone of a travel blog, using a first person, single-character narrative to tell its story. It further deglamourises travel, infusing a fresh breath of air with its visuals of crowded trains, rusted window panes, stray dogs at platforms, to name a few. The visuals show potential which can be explored in the future projects by the team. In terms of the story itself, there is a surprise waiting at the end of it all for the dedicated viewer, along with a sense of memory, nostalgia and longing for home tied together with it all. As the protagonist embarks on his journey from Delhi to Pune, the viewer gets a chance to go along with him, and perhaps see the train ride and the homecoming with a fresh pair of eyes.

Safar | Short Film Nominee

Dhun is poetry about life - it’s small joys, and big disappointments, it’s few victories and many trials.
Through a beautiful, moving lyric, the film strings together the fears, anxieties and issues faced by
various individuals at different stages in their life. On one level, the film is also a meditation on the
process of writing and the many dilemmas that one encounters within the creative method itself. On another, it
asserts that these creative confusions are not removed from the ethical dilemmas of life.

Dhun | Short Film Nominee

The film is about poetic reflections of a young boy trying to make space for himself amidst the hustle-bustle of his daily life. The visual narrative is set against a voiceover that takes the viewer into the life of the protagonist. Rihai attempts to be an exploration of his dreams while he also tries to fulfil his duties. For fiction to be powerful, it has to be set in reality. Irrespective of where the narrative goes, the roots always find their way back to it. This is precisely why the image of a young boy riding his bike without a helmet is a negligence that could have been avoided. Overall, the product exhibits potential that can be developed in subsequent projects.

Rihai | Short Film Nominee

The short film is an experimental attempt by a single-member-crew to talk about landscapes and the environment. As visuals move from one corner of the world to the next, images of industrial pollution, heaps of waste and open fields are all presented to the viewer for the narrative to be able to convey its point.

The World Tour | Lockdown Film Challenge

A man sets out on a journey by road on his bike. Down the path, he runs out of supplies with no
place nearby to even fetch water to drink. Then an out-of-the ordinary event happens to him. 
The film sets up big expectations and aspirations for itself by choosing a macro context and the
philosophising of its story. It would have perhaps benefited from more intimacy between the narratorial voice, which seems to be foreshadowing something rare that is about to happen, and the cinematic translation of this intention. Overall, Sarvantharyami comes across as the endeavour of a small, but determined crew, devoting themselves to tie the various elements of the film together.

Sarvantharyami | Short Film Nominee

The short film attempts a documentation of the experiences of a ten-rupee-coin that wakes up to find himself in alien surroundings. As he gets his bearings, he realises that he is perhaps not alone. The soap bar and onions come forth to aid him complete his journey. He stumbles from one corner of the house to another, running into different family members, avoiding encounters which could prove to be too close for comfort. At the end of it all, however, there awaits a lesson for him as well as the viewer.

Mera Safar | Short Film Nominee

Based on a short story by Ruskin Bond, The Eyes Have It, the short film endeavours to be a comment on the short-sightedness of human nature. It tries to draw attention to the fact that how one views the world is not simply confined to the sense of vision, but there are other ways of seeing too. The narrative opens with a visually impaired man, sitting alone in a train. He is soon joined by a young woman he finds himself captivated by. Striking a conversation with her, he decides not to reveal his blindness to her during the course of it. They hit it off immediately and things seem to be going well when an unexpected turn changes the tune of the story. The film finally concludes with a reminder that things are not always what they seem, therefore we need to hone a vision that goes beyond the apparent.

Maayai | Short Film Nominee

A train ride offers the overlapping of the most unexpected stories and characters, an exact combination that would never be achieved again. In this aspect, every train journey is truly one of its kind, unique in the collective experiences and wisdom it carries within, without ever announcing it explicitly. The film is an attempt to weave a narrative using the same, and present forth the romantic beauty in the mundane. An experience, that may otherwise have been ignored by the travellers who constitute it, is brought to the viewer's attention to enable them to participate in the plethora of stories it always inevitably turns out to be.

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