Shame attempts to be a powerful narrative about the struggle of a woman to feel accepted, loved and beautiful. As she goes around cleaning rooms at the hotel she works at, her feelings often find an outlet in voyeurism and sneaky glances into the lives of the guests. The film is a comment on how class adds to the oppression of a woman who may not fulfill conventional beauty standards. Despite strong performances by Swara Bhasker and Ranvir Shorey, Shame falls short of delivering all that it promises. While it wants to leave the audience with the message that often the only thing stopping you from being all that you can be is your own crippling sense of shame, the events leading to this conclusion are not convincing. Full points to the intention, but that does not take away from the fact that the sudden change in the character trajectory of the protagonist comes as an implausible plot development.

Shame | Short Film of the Day

The thematic concerns of the narrative are several and include minority identity, one's relationship with religion, and finally, love that turns to hate and fires the desire for revenge. The film does a notable job of engaging with all of these, shining in some moments, owing primarily to a delicate handling of a sensitive thought, but sometimes, also lagging and bordering on sentimentalism. It would be erroneous to not point out that the plot, significant in its execution, presents the viewer with an involving take on father-son dynamics, marked by stubbornness and anger that the two characters come to mirror in each other. The film, essentially the story of a man who has witnessed tragedy, and is confronted with important questions and memories of the past, exhibits notable performances and storytelling, along with deep potential that can be explored further by the team in their future projects.

Zidd | Short Film of the Day

A man in a remote town, a favorite brand of cigarettes and a gory history of a house - these are our first introduction to the world of ‘Charnel House’. Due to the haunted past of a villa, the protagonist has been able to buy it at one-fourth of the price. The viewer is allowed slowly-steadily into this tale of horror and violence. Once the premise is established, events unravel swiftly. The narrative follows a non-linear path, and moves back and forth to further take us into the dark past of the characters and an evil, vindictive force that follows them until it has been appeased. The film does a notable job of keeping the viewer involved, even if showing a little want of tightness in some places. It’s a welcome prospect to see more similar projects where these few wrinkles have been ironed out.

The Charnel House | Short Film Nominee

The film depicts the plight of an anguished teenager. He is raped in a boy’s washroom. We do not know if that
was the first time it happened to him or if he has been abused before. The situation at his domestic front
is also pitiable. He has suffered a life of neglect. Finding himself completely alone and powerless, he drinks to
forget his pain, but will it suffice in assuaging his misery? The narrative is notable for it brings to light a less talked about aspect of sexual violence - of abuse and violation of young boys. While triggering for some and requiring viewer's discretion, and despite being completely devoid of any actual exchange of dialogues between its characters, Silent makes it comment loudly and clearly, achieving the same by tying its visuals with a voiceover and a complementary background score.

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