Tanuja Chandra's documentary
‘Aunty Sudha, Aunty Radha’, follows her real aunts who live
in a rural part of North India along with a retinue of their domestic helpers.

<h2>The two nonagenarians are the centre of a peculiar, little, self-sustained community in Mathura. All of their household helpers have been there for decades. They work with reverence, making serving the two women seem almost like a devotional ritual. </h2> In return, for their
sustenance, the vast farmlands in the property are equally divided to provide them surplus crop.
Aunty Radha’s son, who devised the arrangement and bought the property, frequents them
once a week. Rest of the time the house is run at the whims of Sudha, the younger, much more
dominant sibling. 

It is a unique set-up, one that most people cannot hope to afford, but that is not the point of this
film. It is about what truly matters in life. The relationship between the two women is explored
simultaneously in depth along with the everyday occurrences of their life and
times. It is a symbiotic dependence of two souls that have been together for ages, and cannot
fathom to be apart. In each other, they have found a reason to make the rest of their life worth
so much more. Perhaps it is each others’ company that has prolonged their lives, and kept them healthy. 


<h2>Chandra’s care for the subject is translated well into the film that is profound without ever trying. The
film’s grammar feels as delicate as blown glass. It treats its characters with affectionate care, love and a sense of security that pervades throughout. </h2>

Life is alright in this little community
and there is nothing else, but all-pervasive positivity that has made its home there. The experience of being part
of a loving, synchronised community is visible in the household helpers. The cook who knows she
will never quite satisfy Aunty Sudha’s demands, the experienced gardener who is happy to tend
to flowers and laugh at the women's quips, another helper who is much closer to the old women

and understands the responsibility that comes with it; the sense of spirituality of daily life is found
in every member of the house.

 
Through characters that are old, and preparing for the ultimate eventuality, the film affirms life
itself in its most rudimentary form. Happiness is not only to be found in success, or grand events that
surround one, but merely the conscious act of living for oneself, and being there for the people
around you is sufficient. This film is an experience that places one’s faith in living, and in the ordinary, mundane experiences of life that remain grossly underrated.

 
Written by Nimish K Sharma

Aunty Sudha Aunty Radha | Shorted Screening | Tanuja Chandra

A short film, more often than nought, is a moment frozen in time. Bebasee reaffirms this premise by simply introducing the viewer to the helplessness of a woman, as the title suggests, without weighing itself down with the whys and hows of it. An exploration of the familial space and the domestic conflict that resides within it, the film begins and ends in medias res, but still manages to offer a complete narrative, irrespective of the stage the story is located at. It opens on a note marked by high tension, one which is fraught with conflict and anxiety, gradually simmering down, allowing the plot an organic movement. In its short duration, the film packs a powerhouse of a story. Marked by its crispness, and without wasting a single moment, the story is shared with the viewer in an impactful manner. The frames and camera angles exhibit intelligence and thought, allowing the film to succeed not only at the level of story and creativity, but also technique and skill. Further enhanced by a seamlessness that is a reflection of the director's maturity at handling the subject, and notable chemistry of its young cast, the film becomes a well-rounded, balanced product.

Bebasee | Short Film of the Day

The film offers a very involving, skilled narrative that presents its many developments at a gradual, organic pace. The story is constructed with care, ensuring it remains imbued with thrill as well as a shocking progression of events in the most unexpected manner. 

However, the world it conjures to share all of this with the viewer, at first glance, is far from it. It’s simply a conversation between two sisters until one realizes that the space is rife with resentment, bitterness, and a constant threat of violence. 

Anu has walked out on her relationship in the middle of the night, asking her sister to come pick her up. Even in the face of the darkness of an empty, lonely corner of a street, or gawking strangers, or a little-too-inquisitive cops, she is undaunted. The same resilience is present in her elder sister as well. When these elements and characteristics are tied together neatly at the film’s conclusion, supplemented by the chemistry, and notable performances of the two actors, they present a story of far darker occurrences than the viewer might have expected at the beginning.

Anu Aur Di | Short Film of the Day

Trigger warning: Based on true events, the short film is a jarring reminder of brutal sexual violence against young girls and women in India. The story is of a small town in Punjab where a boy lives with his younger sister. The narrative is handled maturely and does not give in to sentimentalism, voyeurism and excessive violence that films of this kind often fall prey to. Ayaana draws attention to how widespread rapes are in the country and how little is the punishment that is meted out to the perpetrators. Consequently, it serves to disturb the viewer and has the potential to spur them into action against this much prevalent form of sexual abuse and assault.

Ayaana | Short Film of the Day

The film is a skilled endeavor of weaving a story of thrill, intrigue, mystery and the eventual coming together of them all. A hit-and-run case has left two men in a complex situation, one that can potentially land them in jail and alter the course of their lives forever. 

Sean, a hardworking police officer, is leaving no stone unturned in getting to the heart of the matter, until a truly unexpected development occurs. Employing the twist, the narrative does a notable job of catching the viewer unaware with its writing and plot. It further presents to them a dubious circumstance involving Sean’s sister, Sophie. The screenplay and narratorial progression deliberately lead expectations in a particular direction, only to subvert them eventually. Even though parts of the second half of the film do no exhibit the same smoothness as the rest of it, on the whole it remains a zealous, sincere creative end result, one which paves the path for more similar storytelling in the future.

The Turn Ahead | Short Film Nominee

The entirety of the plot is a conversation between two siblings, as they scream out each other's secrets to their mother from the terrace of their house. The film ropes in humour and the relatability of a sibling conflict to share its story. What starts off from a pregnancy test, concludes with a piece of cloth marked by its rainbow colours, and the statement they inherently carry within. As the shouting match continues, the secrets seem to be building up to something that would eventually come to alter the tone of the film in a permanent fashion. When it finally arrives, will the characters and the viewer be prepared for it? Secret endeavours to do its bit to normalise queer identities without giving in to sentimentalism or cliches. It weaves its story in a direct manner, along with skilled camerawork and an honesty to storytelling and performance.

Secret | Short Film of the Day

A serial killer is on a violent rampage in the city of Rampurat in West Bengal when the film opens. The headlines tout him as the Stoneman Killer, while the audience is taken deeper into this world. Alongside this is the story of a woman who has arrived at the train station a little over an hour ahead of midnight. Her brother who was supposed to pick her up lost track of time and got delayed, ensuring that she is stranded at the platform in the darkness and isolation in a city that is ridden with a night curfew as a result of the horrors afflicted on it by a brutal killer. 

The film does a notable job of constructing its realm which, in turn, ensures that the audience remains engaged throughout. The end result becomes the first part of a longer story, one that leaves the viewer curious about not only the fate of the characters involved but also about the identity and motivations of the killer. 

Though the film keeps itself confined to the story of only a few hours during a single night, it manages to employ the screenplay and narratorial progression to its full capacity, keeping the audience’s attention from wandering off. The subsequent parts of the story should definitely be explored and shared with the viewers.

Midnight Masscare | Short Film Nominee

Short films that manage to simply capture and freeze a moment in time, and nothing more, are often sufficient to successfully tell an important story without needing any further embellishments. Didi! is a wonderful example of the same proposition. It is crisp, taut and surprisingly sweet in its storytelling, and the manner in which it portrays its characters and the relationship they share. The first dialogue in the film is an annoyed calling out to an elder sister, "Didi!". The first sound is that of a screeching alarm clock early in the morning. The way these two will get tied together to reveal the true motivations of the story will leave you with a heartwarming message about siblings, the wistfulness for a time whose value you realise only when it has passed and a beautiful bond that exists between two individuals as they move from one stage of their life to another, all the while deeply caring for each other.

Didi! | Short Film of the Day

The short film promises to be a moving portrayal of a crumbling familial structure. With Sanjay Mishra as the father, the narrative is about his two children, played by Anupriya Goenka and Neeraj Pradeep Purohit, and their relationship with their mother. They have come to visit her as she struggles with a terminal illness. The story progresses to touch upon homosexuality, financial instability and a potential life of delinquency. Consequently, the current situation the characters have landed themselves in is fraught with tension and disagreements. However instead of building on it in a manner that could have led to a poignant narrative, the film falls prey to sentimentalism and unconvincing plot developments. As unresolved anger simmers just below the surface, threatening to erupt any moment, will the film be able to live up to the expectations it has set at the start?

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