Shorts

My review: Shorts

 Compilation of five short films in a span of 90 minutes with approximately 20 minutes per story, "Shorts" is produced by Anurag Kashyap and Guneet Monga. Of the five short films, "Mehfuz", "Sujatha" and "Shor" stand out for both the content and the performances in that order. Other two, "Audacity" and "Epilogue" fails to create the same intensity of impact the other three generated. 

Mehfuz: 

Starring Nawazzudin Siddiqui and Aditi Khanna, Rohit Pandey's "Mehfuz" is the best of the five films. Excellently performed by Nawazuddin, the film has lasting impact on the viewers. Exploring the psyche of a loner who longs for human company, when he is about to get one at a striking distance, destiny has other plans. The last few shots of the movie of Nawazzudin caressing the arm of the dead body is impactful showcasing the longing of human mind for company.    

This segment has wonderful cinematography with lots of telling shots. The lighting especially for the night sequences are very good. Since it has very few dialogues, music director has tried to fill in the gaps with music, quiet successfully at that. On the whole, "Mehfuz" is a wonderful exploration of human mind that is lonely and longing for human contact. 

4/5

Sujatha:  

Shlok Sharma's "Sujatha" has Huma Qureshi in the lead with Aditya Kumar having an equally powerful role. 

"Sujatha" tells the story of one of the many numerous silent sufferers of abuse (sexual, physical, emotional and mental ) at the hands of a close relative in our society. Sujatha is the protagonist whose abuse at the hands of her cousin starts early in childhood till she gets to the point of no return. What follows is the extreme measure that she takes when all her hopes are lost. 

                       

Huma Qureshi is brilliant the silent suffer Sujatha. "One can bear the lashing but the hurt caused by the kiss would be unbearable" is the defining line of this movie. Her performance in that scene as well as in the climatic portion of this segment warrants mention. Aditya Kumar is equally as good. His performance is so strong that anyone would easily hate his character and root for the protagonist when she takes that extreme measure. For the protagonist's character to shine antagonist has to be powerful which is the case here too. On the whole, "Sujatha" is hard-hitting short film with superlative performance from the actors concerned. 

4/5

Shor: 

Neeraj Ghaywan's "Shor" is a beautiful story set against the travails and tribulations of the people who live in the slums of Mumbai. With good performances from Ratnabali Bhattacharjee and Vineet Singh and neat writing makes this one among the best three short films of this feature. Natural portrayal of the actors is the main strong point of this segment. Especially Ratnabali is good both when she silently endures all the bashings from her mother-in-law and husband as well as when she retorts back at her husband at the most crucial part of the story. One telling shot of this segment is  when the camera zooms across the city of Mumbai from a fixed point showing the contrast within the city between bustling tall skyscrapers on the left and sprawls of tin shed shelters as the camera moves towards the right, all side by side within short distance of one another. On the whole, "Shor" is an ode to the numerous hardworking women who go about leading a dignified life withstanding the abuse from their husbands and in-laws.  

3.5/5

Audacity :

Only Bengali short film among the five, Anirban Roy's "Audacity" starring Preeti Singh and Shankar Debnath starts of promisingly but fizzles out in the end. Trying to explore the generation gap, parents inability to lead by example and their over-criticality leading to the teenager taking measures to teach them a lesson is all about "Audacity". Nothing can be faulted as far as the performances are concerned. But the story is not gripping and the ending is all too sudden without any twist in the tale. On the whole, "Audacity" had all the potential but fails to sustain one's interest. 

2.5/5

Epilouge: 

The weakest and most abstract of all the five segments, Siddharth Gupt's "Epilouge" starring Richa Chaddha and Arjun Shrivastav is difficult for an average movie goer to decipher what it is all about. It is a story of a borderline, almost psychotic Richa who has a possessive love for Arjun which so suffocating and torturous that it pushes Arjun to the brink. When he finally decides to confront the shackles the borderline impulsivity of Richa comes to his rescue and finally his freedom. This is one of those movies that is open for the viewer's interpretation. Well shot with lots of delusional and hallucinatory effects sprinkled throughout, "Audacity" is technically rich. Background score is good, especially since there is no dialogues in this segment the music director Jaidev Kumar has put on extra effort. Both the actors Richa and Arjun are good in their parts. But somehow one feels something is missing at the end.

2.5/5