'What got into us back then', laments one of the characters of Dhund, looking back at the Partition eleven years later. Much like other Shlok Sharma films, this one too questions the pointlessness of communal conflict and the ugly sides of the human nature it reveals. The short film by Sudeep Kanwal starts on a high and maintains the poignancy all through it's first half. However, in the second half, it dips to not recover again. Had the film been shorter and tauter, perhaps it would have sustained the depth it had set its horizon of expectation for. Despite its flaws, Dhund will leave you with a moving glimpse of a conflict that destroyed many lives, irrespective of the side of the border.

Dhund | Short Film of the Day

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

There is no reason why you should sit through this cringe-fest of a film which throws in names like Sadat Hasan Manto and Naseeruddin Shah, but to very little avail. The characters in the film are shallow, and excluding Shah, accompanied by the most lacklustre performance. Their portrayal is half-hearted and leaves the viewer wondering about what convinced Shah to be part of the film in the first place. With casual racism, stereotyping, sexism and nausea-invoking patriarchy thrown in for good measure, the story is problematic in too many ways to keep count of. The viewer is also forced to pay attention to art direction (or the complete lack of it) and how taking it for granted with unconvincing props and design can make a film fall deeper in the pit of its flaws, even when you thought it had exhausted all criteria of being a bad product. The only pertinent question the film truly raises is about filmmaking and leaves anyone attempting to venture in the territory with a fair warning of how not to make a film like Skin of Marble.

Most Viewed

Genres

Awards

Follow Us

Quick Links