3/5
Stop stress! There’s oodles of sadness and a dollop of madness out here. In fact, you’re straightaway collared into sharing the endless grief of a battered-shattered young woman whose cousin (male, natch) is making her life go pell
mell. Welcome to her hell.
Like it or not, the kickstart episode of 'Shorts' – a collection of five mini-films by deubtant directors of different styles and temperament – makes your heart sink, primarily because you can’t quite figure out which kind of audience it is catered to. Neither art not mart, the Shlok Sharma-directed 'Sujata' is more in the nature of a diploma film, or a showreel. Come to think of it, the entire project is to call attention to a gung-ho squad.
In principle, producer Anurag Kashyap, bravely, attempts to do a Pune Film Institutish number, for which he surely deserves a bugle blast. In execution, though, the sum-result is uneven and at points, amateurish.
Back to Sharma’s 'Sujata', then. The battered one (Huma Qureshi, impressively credible) cooks away capsicum-tomato fry in a huge kadhai for a tiffin service. And (yuck), she licks a society matron’s feet – in tight close-up - while double-tasking as a masseuse. Tough that. So why doesn’t she hit back? Can’t tell you if she does or doesn’t, but this business of a woman in sufferance plods on, weighed down particularly by primitive technique and confusing flashbacks. Plus, the sidebar performances are butter-fingered including that of the tormentor and a cigarette-sucking tough guy, who refuses to help the damsel-in-distress. The story is okay, it’s telling, absolutely ordinary.
Maybe the next one, 'Epilogue' directed by Siddharth Gupt, will flash signs of brilliance. Sorry, it doesn’t. Indeed, it’s the least absorbing of the quintet, opting for an abstract, no-dialogue mode while peeping voyeuristically at the lives of a kinky couple in a cosy apartment. From what you can figure, their relationship is falling apart. She won’t let him light a cigarette, he sulks, she giggles, he glares. Meanwhile a street sweeper smiles mysteriously. The couple continues on its avant-garde, sub-surreal shenanigans. At best, Richa Chadda is inspired as the significant-other. Period. Truly, you’d hate to ever experience this couple next-door.
Anirban Roy’s 'Audacity' moves to Bengal, where a goth-punk-wig-wearing teenaged girl is in the throes of impersonating a Michael Jackson video. Like the blonde kid in Jacko’s video, she is interrupted by her dad when she’s just about to hit the best part. Awwww. Instead of continuing with her blast, she retreats to her bedroom, leading to a twist in the tale meant to critique fuddy-duddy parentage and Pinocchio-nosed neighbours. This is it!
Mercifully, the next two episodes are cuts above the rest of the material showcased here. Rohit Pandey’s 'Mehfuz' is moodily shot, and carries an iota of literary strengh in its narrative about a funeral pyre attendant who is attracted to a street walker. Ostensibly, the 30-something man has never seen a woman before. Never mind. Quite clearly, this short carries the anthology’s most affecting moment: The man who has been performing a morbid job for years looks into the mirror for once, and cleans his face with detergent soap. Yet, he can’t remove the marks of fire-and-ash which have marred his face. Nawazuddin Siddiqui is terrific, reminding you of Om Puri’s intensity in his younger days.
Neeraj Ghayman’s 'Shor' glances at the plight of migrant workers in Mumbai. Like Sujata, Meena suffers silently – in this case, under the dictatorship of a jobless husband, and an acid-tonged mother-in-law. That she has to slog overtime at a tailoring factory is taken for granted. Ratnabali Bhattacharjee as the toiling Meena, blends into her role perfectly. Vineet Singh, too, seems destined for lengthier roles, if he is noticed by a talent scout.
Short but never sweet, Kashyap’s showcase in sum leaves you wanting. For sure, there could have much more on display both in terms of fresh story value and ground-breaking craftsmanship. At most you leave 'The Shorts' with a memory loss. As soon as all the stress and misery of the characters is over, so is yours.
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