The film builds its world at a sustained pace. It starts off with humor and eccentricity as a man gradually tries to make sense of his new humble dwelling, to say the least. In trying to align it with his ideas of auspicious domestic placement, he bathes in the kitchen and cooks in the washroom. 
The protagonist is more than content with this. However, the circumstance is hardly inviting for his hapless, pregnant wife, Bhavna. As the conflict between the couple regarding the situation mounts, a terrible development occurs from which there is no looking away. 
What the film briefly lacks in terms of maturity of tonality, it comfortably compensates with its strong visual grammar. The notable storytelling also eventually presents a crucial metaphor, one that takes the film home in a complete, balanced manner after having lucidly communicated all that it had set out to with its premise.

Sookha Patta  | Short Film of the Month

As a cyclone looms over the state of Telangana, two meteorological scientists, Mohan and Krishna, converse about misguided religious belief systems and superstitions. Mohan’s new-born daughter is feared by an acclaimed holy man to bring danger and death to the family. 
To this, an amused Krishna replies by narrating a story from his village during a dry spell. On the suggestion of a swami, the starving villagers decide to plant and worship a tulsi plant for four continuous days to appease the raging god of rain. 

 However, the procession is deemed to succeed only if the blood of an innocent girl is sacrificed, who eventually turns out to be daughter of the village president. The film showcases how fear and misbeliefs often lead to unreasonable actions by humans which are ultimately aimed at satisfying their own greed.

Gowripuram | Short Film Nominee

The film is quiet, innocent and endearing. The story is about the dread of a boy who is convinced he is about to lose his aunt over a lie. During a cricket match, Soham's cousin swears untruthfully on his mother, leaving the former worried about the well-being of his aunt. Our young protagonist is on tenterhooks as he watches her closely, jumping at her hiccups, an inauspicious colour or an unreachable phone. Aai Shapat does a decent job of capturing the fright of a child following a harmless lie. The same is portrayed in the manner the other characters respond to him, a device that allows the film to communicate the sentiment seamlessly. The execution of the narrative is lucid along with being a subtle reminder of how deeply embedded superstitions are in our day-to-day to lives.

Aai Shapat | Short Film of the Day

The short film opens at the most intriguing note, letting the narrative take its time to reveal to the viewer what it's truly about. To be fair the title gives away much of its subject matter - the anti-jinx charm of lemon and chilli. That should prepare a horizon of expectation for you, but does it really? In its lighthearted, engaging manner, the plot develops to reveal how a man peddles stories to sell the charms he makes regularly. One after the other, customers fall prey to his smooth conversation, inevitably ending up being his patron. Even when he hits a roadblock in the form of an unusually stubborn customer, of course he is armed with his communication skills. The path seems laid out for him, until one day when tragedy comes knocking at his own door. Will his talisman provide him the protection he ensures all his customers of?

Limbu Mirchi | Short Film Nominee

Living in a small Marathi town with his parents, Tejas is a bright student who is often applauded by his teachers for his examination scores, performance and knowledge. However, this doesn’t sit right with his classmates who lag behind and struggle to secure the bare minimum grades. They end up bullying Tejas by calling him names, pushing him around and beating up others who try to befriend him. 
The little protagonist, who is already battling the grief left in the wake of his beloved grandmother's death, is adversely affected by it all. However, instead of being able to identify the role of mental health, Tejas' parents mistake the cause of his turmoil as being something else entirely. 

 Mired in superstition, the approach thus becomes about them reaching out to numerous pandits and holy men who conduct varied rituals with the promise of recovery. In a society where people would seek solace in religious rites and rituals, instead of a qualified professional, the film does its bit to further the conversation on mental health.

Kawadsa | Short Film Nominee

Vishal, a young documentary filmmaker, is on a quest to find the perfect subject for his film. His enthusiastic local guide takes him into the heart of a story, one about a little boy, Mato and his pet goat, Arjun. 

Basing its plot on Mahasweta Devi’s ‘The Armenian Champa Tree’, the film presents a nexus between superstition and sincere companionship. It endeavors to construct its world with care and thought as it takes us deeper into the issues that plague its characters, presenting a metanarrative of sorts, a film about making a film. 
The film’s most notable aspect is its approach to storytelling, especially achieved with its edit and screenplay. Though a few stones remain unturned in achieving all of these intentions, the film in its current form offers a completed whole, while also leaving the door open for more such attempts at storytelling and world-building in the future.

The Legend of Mato | Short Film Nominee

Riyan has been given the task of cutting down trees for the construction of a road by his senior. As he gets to the task of achieving the same, his paths cross with a very unexpected presence in Cedari. The two embark on a journey of friendship and affection, alongside which the film’s narrative comes into being. 

Through the portrayal of the experiences and the memories of the protagonist, an important social comment is pronounced in the film, one about the absolute need to preserve and protect trees. The narrative further points out how development in the name of progress, and regressive superstitious practices, both are capable of causing equal harm to our flora. It also emphasizes that love for nature can translate into all our relationships with other people, and enrich our lives deeply. The film shares all of these ideas with the viewer by employing its writing and screenplay with ease.

Kalaye Vasantham | Short Film Nominee

Employing animation and coupling it with humour, the film weaves a narrative about caste, ideas of communism, a young man's denial of age-old customs and superstitions, and his grandmother's failed and desperate attempts to make him see the truth of her ways. A zealous final product, the film weaves all of this together into the folds of its narrative, bringing forth an engaging story for the viewer. From lizards dropping from the sky to unexpected black kitties to red threads, the plot ropes in all of them. Serendipity too wriggles its way into the story of a day that has been unfolding disastrously so far, but does it also mean that the conclusion will be a catastrophe too? The film has an unexpected and amusing answer up its sleeve for the same.

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