When the film opens, we see a group of children playing with each other. The endearing image is soon overshadowed by a sense of unease that is introduced into the narrative. The viewer perceives it first before they identify the source of it. A man watches the children from afar, looking a little too intent for the audience's comfort. Unaware of a vile aspect of the adult world unfolding parallel to their carefree game, the children continue to run and scamper around. The film soon offers a jarring image, one that suddenly transforms an innocent childhood activity into one of violence and cruelty, making it amply clear for the viewer about the rest of the narrative's course. Hide and Seek is shot wonderfully with smooth camerawork and editing. It presents forth a premise, but not a conclusion, and leaves you with and at a moment of high tension.

Hide and Seek | Short Film Nominee

The film brings to life a rural and an urban existence simultaneously. The two parallel narratives are juxtaposed to draw your attention to the idyllic nature and simplicity of the former, portrayed in a romanticised manner. The latter is shown to be marked by the mundaneness as well as the exhaustion of a routine. Further, the two plot lines are explored using the experiences and lives of two school boys. Their understanding of life is then mapped using their interactions with their education. While one of them, Aniket or Anya, as his school mates fondly call him, has to walk several kilometres for something as simple as a mid-day meal, he is still shown to be happy and content. On the other hand is his urban counterpart, Mangesh or Mangya, who finds himself entwined within the web of all the activities and lessons his parents have chosen for him. It is by using the contrast between these two lives that the film aspires to present its ideas to you.

Pathshala | Short Film Nominee

The narrative of the film invokes several important concerns that range from forbidden love, violence to caste system and the hierarchical structures of a rural set-up. The approach adopted to engage with these themes is an experimental one - bringing in props in the form of masks to represent characters. An intercaste couple in a village endeavors to overcome familial pressure as well as societal obstruction to be together. However, even when they risk everything, and are ready to elope, the most fateful sequence of events awaits them. The tragic tone of the narrative is deliberately amplified by the proximity of the young couple's attempts to fruition and eventual escape before all Hell is let loose. The film is sincere in its storytelling, as well as attempts to play around with visuals, music and the manner in which the two are tied together to enhance it. A certain tightness in its narrative, though, would have allowed it to be tauter and more than what it is.

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