The film presents a story of harassment and stalking, but does so with uniqueness in storytelling. The freshness in its approach ensures that the viewer is glued to the narrative right till the very end, as the protagonist, Megh, takes them deeper and deeper into his world. 

Megh is a writer who, one night, stumbles upon a strange man with a strange query. The film moves back and forth in time as Megh recounts his ordeal to three other characters, each with their own approach to the encounters he describes. 

The film’s biggest strength is what it achieves at the level of thought. It presents a fluidity of roles, and that they can be quite different for the same person depending on the context they are placed in. The story further presents the internal journey that the protagonist goes on as a result of this harrowing experience, and what all of it entails for his identity as a writer. 

The title is explored and engaged with, alongside the life of a city which can sometimes be as forgiving as Mumbai. There is an interaction with the ideas of justice as well. Though there is a slight lack of seamlessness when it comes to the film’s sound department, it is easy to overlook it in the face of the performances, writing, and narratorial progression that the film offers. The ideas thus presented are seeds of thoughts that should definitely be allowed to grow in more projects.

Out of Context | Short Film of the Month

It’s difficult to find a word in the English language which describes the occupation of the person we send our washed
clothes to get ironed. The colloquial term is ‘press-wala/wali’. Salbatein is her story. 
The film is a monologue that begins with her detailing the specifics of her life and work. What
she says in the beginning feels a bit unnatural to the viewer, considering the insistence on the realist-genre by the film. But once one eases into the film, her words become a scathing critique of the
iron-fisted patriarchal customs of Haryana. In a way then, the film takes the form of the practice of
ironing where, as the creases are smoothened out, the cloth, and the thoughts begin to take shape. The film is marked by a strong voiceover and performance of its only actor, along with notable writing. From the local, to the global, Salbatein outlines the stifling controls through which patriarchy has
strategised to keep women away from a life of freedom and progress.

Salbatein | Short Film of the Day

The film invokes a notable conversation around justice and freedom and how far the two can be located from each other in the real world. The entire the action of the story unfolds within a single room where two men have a conversation - an important, powerful lawyer and a convict who has been incarcerated for two years without having committed the crime. As a dialogue is invoked around the ideas of crime, justice and the punishment meted out to them, the film utilises its limited resources efficiently to communicate its intention. Further, it offers a critique of the Indian justice system, and the several legal complexities inherent to it that have been twisted and moulded to one's advantage by the powerful and the mighty in some very infamous cases of the past.

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