‘Shoebox’ brings to life a world that is chaotic, cruel, unforgiving, but above all, intensely personal and intimate. This intimacy is precisely the reason why it draws the viewer deeper and deeper, ensuring that it stays with them long after they are done watching the film. 

<img src="https://i.imgur.com/8bAi2Z6l.jpg" /> 

Mampu (Amrita Bagchi), a research scholar in Pune, returns to her native Allahabad due to a health emergency in the family. Her father, Madhav Chatterjee (Purnendu Bhattacharya), is a rigid man of strong beliefs, refusing to forgo smoking even in the face of dire health demands, or his theater, a relic of the past long gone and forgotten in an age of multiplexes. 

<h2>Commenting on this sense of the personal, and how it gets tied with cinema, director and co-writer, Faraz Ali says, “As I moved cities and traveled far from home and then returned to it time and again, I saw unbridled change that was slowly going out of control. Of course, this is inevitable, but for each person it’s an intimate loss. 

This very intimate, macro experience of a larger process of loss and displacement is what I wanted to capture in my first feature film. Because let’s face it, the only thing closest to actually living in those now-erased spaces, is recreating that world (and its sense of comfort) through cinema, which is such a wonderful tool to re-enter past worlds.”</h2> 

In the process of this exploration, the film does a especially notable job to not simply conjure the father-daughter equation, but also the many forces that tug and pull at it, that shape and mold it into a dynamic that is defined by care and affection, and the desire to look out for each other, as much as it is marked by past resentments, impatience, and ensuing baggage of emotions that have been left to fester for too long. 

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‘Shoebox’ presents to us a world which is very distinctly its own, a metaphorical box whose walls are made of past, memories, friendship, loyalty, resentment, parental figures and their harshness, and yet, a common thread of intimacies and vulnerabilities that tie them all together. However, while Madhav may have refused to move on from the only time in his life when he truly felt happy, this world continues to march to its own beat against a backdrop of political power tussles, urbanization and modern day progress that might sometimes come at the cost of jeopardizing a city’s cultural ethos. 


A space of WWF cards, strong filial and familial bonds, the urge to protect a younger family member in a way Mampu couldn’t be protected, and letting go of the grief of one family member to make space for the peace of another is constructed with the plot's progression. And yet, the various elements, constantly at war with another, are sometimes deliberately kept indifferent to the individual troubles of the protagonist, drowning her in their cacophony, ensuring that she finds herself at a moral crossroads, unable to distinguish between what is right and worth fighting for, while also safeguarding herself and those around her. 

Spectacularly complementing the various emotional intricacies of the plot are the sophisticated visuals of Mahesh Aney. The resultant frames enrich the film most beautifully, ensuring that it’s precisely their presence which add a nuanced, deeply crucial layer of authenticity to the narrative.

<h2>There is much to be said about the atmosphere created as part of the experience of watching the film. And indeed, it was a result of conscious, meticulous effort by Ali who adds, "I only aimed to go beyond verbal emotions and work toward an atmospheric film. 

The primary ingredient for this was the sound design. The film was set in the North Indian winter when air density increases, and since Allahabad doesn’t have many skyscrapers or tall buildings, faraway sounds are not blocked, making a peculiar acoustics of the city. Ambient sounds are amplified and they reach our homes. Trains pass in the distance and railway announcements are made. New names are heard. The sound of a city becomes the sound of our homes. And thus with time, the sounds of a changing city also become the sounds of our changing homes." </h2> 

<img src="https://i.imgur.com/SYsbWmrl.jpg" /> 

As the emotional and personal develop alongside the external, practical world, ‘Shoebox’ remains an sincere, devoted and wonderful endeavor of storytelling that especially stands out for its honesty and authenticity. There are very few rough edges (for instance Mampu’s sudden and effusive expression against sending her young cousin to a boarding school) that might come across as inorganic, but on the whole, it is easy to overlook them, simply in the name of the quiet, calm world the film evokes for you. Both Ali and co-writer Noopur Sinha are refreshing, skilled voices to look forward to. 
 

Written by Rosheena Zehra

Shoebox | Faraz Ali, Noopur Sinha

‘Reduva’ or radio is a story marked by immense visual drama that very adroitly portrays all the thematic preoccupations of the film. Ramphal cherishes a gift from long ago, presented to him on the night of his marriage - a radio. His constant companion now in old age, the gadget remains deeply embedded in his life. 

Alongside this endearing equation, however, is the alcoholism of his unemployed son who only brings trouble home in the form of drunken brawls, injuries that become a financial strain on the already struggling family, and domestic abuse. 

The film ropes it all in with seamless visuals that are sustained with control, ensuring that every emotion is presented to the viewer lucidly. While there may be a sense of hope in the manner Ramphal’s grandson comes to his aid and reveals an unexpected, precocious moment of tenderness, the circumstance with his son continues to deteriorate. The story that is thus presented to the viewer is meaningful and involving, allowing the film to succeed at the delineation of all its intentions.

Reduva | Short Film Nominee

When a skilled voiceover is coupled with sophisticated, seamless visuals, there is little that can go wrong. The short film is a paradigmatic example of the balance that such a combination brings to the table. Essentially, the story of the film is no more than a romance with a season, but one which is not simply constituted by weather. It is made up of nostalgia, memory, a fondness for the past, and the experience all of it eventually leads to. The narrative is smart with its length, keeping it just right to convey the message in a heartwarming, endearing manner, without either communicating or holding back too much. The plot is a weaving together of lovely metaphors and imagery that further serve the purpose of enhancing its easy, but powerful narration, to allow the viewer a glimpse into perhaps their own childhood memories of a summer spent chasing all sorts of reveries and dreams.

Mere Sheher Ki Garmiyan | Short Film of the Day

The world is barely beginning to get back on its feet following the Covid-19 pandemic when the film locates itself. As the activity of everyday existence begins again, and people step out of the confines of their homes, a life of inactivity and senility is conjured before us. The viewer is taken into a household constituted by an old woman, her son, a domestic help and her toddler. 

The realm of the film is painted with an intrinsic quietness that continues to define it throughout. The dialogue remains frugal, the action contained, and yet, the space is weaved together in a seamless, impactful manner. 

The comment at the heart of the narrative is lucid and unmissable, one about the cage that is put in place by the limitations of old age, finding a metaphorical representation in the house the woman inhabits, while all along trying to make a phone call to someone we never see on screen. Unable to keep track of time, of day and night, she continues the child-like existence of absolute dependency on others, different only in one way - even the toddler in the house is eventually allowed to step out, albeit in the arms of his mother. The woman, on the other hand, simply continues to watch the world pass by from a solitary window in a wall.

Window in a Cage | Short Film Nominee

The short film is a dreamy coming together of memory, time and the past. As a character sits down to pen down a letter, he finds himself going down the memory lane, a path the viewer traverses with him. What begins as potentially a love story of childhood sweethearts is soon afflicted by images of separation, violence and heartache. The film achieves all of this, and more, using a narrative which is devoid of any and all dialogue. The visuals are weaved together in a seamless manner to conjure an intelligent narrative that demands your full attention. From sharing a fruit with a dear friend as a child to biting into its memory many seasons later, the film portrays it all in its bid to capture a sense of nostalgia and a wistfulness for a past that once existed.

Li Ej Hu | Short Film Nominee

The documentary is a beautiful tryst with the past, memory and time. The narrative is of a young girl, trying to put together an image of her grandfather who passed away about a year ago from the time of when the film begins. As she leads her family members and his employees into sharing their anecdotes of him, it is revealed to the viewer that the common thread that links them all is Hotel Naaz, an establishment that he started in 1959. The film attempts a wonderful use of empty spaces (sometimes even using them to superimpose stills and battered black and white photographs) and a calm, quiet pace that allows the story to connect itself with a lost age and time. While placing her grandfather amidst the hustling activity of Hotel Naaz, our protagonist also explores and wonders about the could-have-beens of her own relationship with him, despite being distanced from each other by the numerous boxes of gender, generation gap and even a different time period. Exhibiting promising potential on the part of the young team, the film does a notable job of exploring and presenting all of these elements to the viewer.

Naaz Hotel | Pick of the Festival Circuit

Smritir Pak, or Maze of Memory, is precisely that, an engagement with the past, time and memory. As a boy sits in his room, the story follows a non-linear trajectory to take the viewer down the same memory line as the protagonist. He revisits his childhood, and also the fantasies and imaginary friends he took comfort in to cope with it. While the symbols of childhood still exist (a red balloon, the memory of a friend who perhaps never existed), their meaning have completely changed. From climbing trees and running in fields, to strumming a guitar in the confines of a room - the protagonist has covered a long journey. The narrative is weaved with a sense of melancholy that never truly leaves the viewer. There is further a sense of the forward movement of life, but one which is never devoid of the past it always carries with it.

Smritir Pak | Short Film Nominee

An old man is in bed, about to fall asleep when he is visited by his grandson and a night, perhaps mundane for the characters involved, but eventful for the viewer, soon follows. As the younger man, with a swollen mouth, bleeding gums and a noticeably bad toothache, tries to prepare his grandfather for bed, several memories are invoked by the latter. It is in this manner that the film exhibits surprising and unexpected moments of poignancy within its folds. The narrative ropes in history, the partition of India, the turmoils of a life already lived, the closure which may or may have not been achieved and simply a suggestion of the passage of time that ties it all together in a cohesive, comprehensive whole. The film is endearing, engaging and amusing in equal measure, and leaves the viewer with a sense of a complete product at its conclusion.

Kenchi Aur Pankha  | Short Film of the Day

Invoking memories and all that they come to stand for eventually, the short film juxtaposes the past against the present, the wisdom and hindsight of old age against the naïveté and innocence of childhood. All of this is engaged with using a chess board and the various moves of the game as a metaphor. The entire journey of reminiscing is completed by the protagonist while simply sitting in a room with only a chess-board as his companion. The story is told in a notable manner with camera work that exhibits potential. Further, the atmosphere which is conjured using the background score is also worthy of attention, and serves to add an extra layer to the already skilled performance of its primary character.

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