May 2020 – Page 4 – AglaPlay.com

Bharam ★★★

A comedy of prejudices starts when Janaki wins a Mercedes but everyone loses with their assessments of other.

Synopsis: There is a person who is standing at Janaki Paul’s door. He has supposedly come to deliver Mercedes car which Janaki won in some lucky draw, but Janaki’s maid won’t let him in nor will allow him to talk to her employer. But this guy is equally stubborn… What is the catch? Why are they behaving so stubbornly and illogically?

What Works: The biggest strength of this short is its length. The director manages to tell the whole story in meager six minutes if we ignore the credits. I appreciate the whole team which stuck to a really short story and gave it just enough time for the characters and situations to sink-in.

The story also aces the test of time. The prejudices brought up by the story are very relevant to today’s world. Most of the audience would connect with the characters’ feeling and judgements. The actions, well, they are exaggerated! But then, how will comic and scare will come up in otherwise everyday story?

Areas of improvement: For the corporate workers out there, yes, I have taken this phrase straight out of my annual appraisal. In case you ask, my manager just couldn’t find anyhthing to fill in this section – I AM PERFECTO! 🙂 Okay, just kidding! Serious now, the issue with the short is its predcitbility. On the first scene itself you will have some idea where the film will move to. Apart from that, nothing much. And please note, it is still enjoyable short break from our mundane lives!

Verdict: A one-time watch!

AglaPlay Verdict: One time watch
AglaPlay Rating: 3.0/5
Language: Hindi / English
Duration: ~6 minutes
Writer: Shieladitya Moulik
Director:  Shieladitya Moulik
Cast: Anuradha Mukherjee
Kan Singh Sodha

Bharam: A 6-minutes long short film

Girl in Red / Gutthi ★★½

Lives of a writer, a garbage collector and a girl are intertwined and lead to an atrocious crime.

Why the slash (/) : Today we are writing the review of two short films who are essentially same vodka in different bottles. We thought to bring these two together, discuss their respective strengths and let the reader decide!

Synopsis: There is an author who wants to write a thriller, but has hit writer-block. He is not able to spin anything new. In this anxiety, his attention turns towards his building’s dustman who also runs all kinds of odd jobs including delivering weed to the flat owners. This dustman is also borderline pervert and skims through all the waste items people throw out, in turn getting evidences of all the gossips of the building. While they bond over marijuana-puffs, the author talks about a girl who was murdered brutally. Is anything common between these three characters?

Story and Screenplay review: The story is not bad. It is just not great, either. Perhaps it is also the treatment of the story that borders on tough to believe scenario. Some vital pieces of the puzzle are also missing, and at times are in contradiction to each other. Screenplay is jumpy at times and especially for ‘Girl in Red‘ version, misses some important scenes which provide justifications to WHYs.

What works for Girl in Red (GIR): Between the two versions, GIR is the newer one, with latest editing, clearly has higher budget and much higher viewership. This is the ‘urbane’ version, and looks pleasant due to better quality (costlier) equipment and setup. Narrative by protagonist sounds better. The language is closer to the normal, north Indian Hindi.

What we didn’t like in GIR: Too many expletives and obscene words without any need. Most of the times they do not even suit the context. Some modifications that are made from earlier version Gutthi are ridiculous and unconvincing. The actors almost look like models which makes the short further contrived.

What works for Gutthi: Gutthi, the original older version is overall much more realistic and credible. There are hardly a few loopholes and the flow is more justified. The actors are suited to the role. Simple faces, day-to-day attires. Even the libraries and the flats look close to the life of an author. This is our preferred version.

What we didn’t like in Gutthi: Practically everything that we liked in GIR. Everything that money can buy – the look, the picture quality etc. Gutthi has that old, low budget camera look, has grainy video and the special effects are basic. It is also ten minutes longer than GIR.

Verdict: Overall an average, the story is worth a watch with all its loopholes. We liked Gutthi version more its more credible story telling, but GIR version is newer and it just the better-looking version! You choose!

AglaPlay Verdict: Average
AglaPlay Rating: 2.5/5
Language: Hindi
Duration: ~17 minutes (GIR), ~27 minutes (Gutthi)
Writer: Abhishek Chatterjee
Director:  Saurabh Varma (GIR) / Abhishek Chatterjee (Gutthi)
Cast: 
Cast of GIR: Nandish Singh, 
Rohit Khurana, 
Nazia Davison  
Cast of Gutthi:
Rathna Shekar Reddy, 
Choeeta Chakrabarti, 
Naren Yadav

Khujli ★★★★½

A sweet romantic tale of a couple married for long. Love is not lost between them, neither has…

Synopsis

Khujli is a soothing heart-touching tale of a couple who have grown older together. They are normal John and Jane who have spent a normal life with normal things. In a sudden twist, the husband finds out that wife is not as sweet and innocent as he thought her to be. This beautiful short film depicts that twist!

What Works

Firstly, on-screen chemistry of Neena Gupta and Jackie Shroff is just amazing. The acting could not have been better!

Especially, the nuisances and the shocks are so life-like! Kudos to writer-director Sonam for bringing this story which borders on kinkiness but delivers with such sweetness.

While many stories talk of love in long term relations, few talk of the longing lust. Moreover, even fewer manage to tell it with the beauty Khujli does. By all means, sex is itself a taboo in Indian society. For this reason, it is regularly scorned, frowned and laughed at, given the situation and the audience. In the land of Kamasutra and nation with the fastest growing population, the treatment is anything but strange.

One may believe that the situation would be different on internet where everyone has a veil, an anonymity… But sadly, even when has anonymity and censor-free medium to release bold content, many a times even best of the directors translate it to pure-play skin show, or try to sell mediocre material after quoting it with sensuality and at times, perversion. We hence respect Khujli‘s team in bringing this out with such sweetness! Thank you, Ms Nair!

What could be better

Generally speaking, there is no negative on the film from AglaPlay’s end. Please let us know if you didn’t like something!

Verdict

To summarize, this is a must watch! There are explicit references to BDSM: parental guidance is recommended.

AglaPlay Verdict: Must watch
AglaPlay Rating: 4.5/5
Language: Hindi
Duration: ~14 minutes
Writer: Sonam Nair
Director:  Sonam Nair
Cast: Jackie Shroff, 
Neena Gupta &
Others

Khujli: Scratching 25 year old khujli in relationship…

Click here to check our short- films recommendations!

Ahalya ★★★★½

A short film filled with suspense and seduction, with a twist to mythological tale of Ahalya.

Synopsis: This short suspense film opens with inspector Sen ringing the doorbell of Mr. Sadhu. The door is opened by sensuousAhalya. The visit pertains to investigation of a missing person Arjun. Arjun was seen with Mr. Sadhu before he went missing. Does Sen solve the mystery of missing Arjun?

What works: Ahalya is a thoroughly enjoyable viewing experience. Acting by all the actors is very good. The short film excels on direction, sounds, lighting. Radhika Apte looks stunning. I had some challenges with Bengali language but the subtitles are very apt. The editing and the screenplay are flawless and we could not find any scene which felt like excessive or out of place. The whole story runs smooth from one frame to another. The director has managed to weave this tale in a manner which retains sensuality, simplicity and suspense all in one frame.

What is the best: The category where the film stands out is the story. In fact, we have awarded one whole extra star to the review for the story-writing alone! The story has much deeper undertones than what it shows on the surface.

Spoiler Alert: Please read after watching. Show

The story is actually an alternate rewriting of mythological Ahalya from Ramayana. Ahalya was married to much older renowned saint, Goutam Rishi. She is believed to be the most beautiful dame of the time. Lord Indra of devlok was seduced by the beauty of Ahalya. As the story goes, Indra transfigures into Goutam and involves in sexual intercourse with her. Angered by this, Goutam curses Ahalya to be transformed into stone. This modern day Ahalya shares all the similarities of the older times, but rather than turning into the stone herself for Indra’s fault, transforms ‘Indra’ and other debauchees into stone.

Verdict: A must watch!

AglaPlay Verdict: Must watch
AglaPlay Rating: 4.5/5
Language: Bengali, with English subtitles
Duration: ~13 minutes
Writer: Sujoy Ghosh
Director:  Sujoy Ghosh
Cast: Soumitra Chaterjee (Goutam), 
Radhika Apte (Ahalya), 
Tota R Chowdhury (Inspector)&
Others

Ahalya: A Modern Retelling

Glitch ★★★

A ten year old travels though the time to save his parents’ relationship.

Karan is the central character in Glitch. He is a 10 year old boy who accidentally discovers a time-control switch. This time switch can take him across a few hours – not more. The short film shows Karan uses the switch to prevent the possible separation of his parents.

I am going off beat here but the movie reminded me of The Butterfly Effect. In case you had not watched it, try that, it is a good movie to watch. It also reminded me of the fantasy short stories penned by famed director Dr Satyajit Rai. He has written several such short stories. I t would be amazing to see a few of them to be presented in a short film. Bordering on science fiction and sometimes, occult, the stories are just so enjoyable.

Anyways, back to the Glitch that we have here. On the positive side, I praise Shubham for bringing out this experimental work. The story is interesting. well-written. Kabir (Secret Superstar famed child actor) does complete justice toe the role and in fact, he is the one who carries the whole film on his shoulders. You may see the film advertised with Mona Singh’s name but that is largely the marketing part of it. One should watch this movie for the way Kabir carries this whole project through. Highly appreciate Shubham-Kabir duo!

On the not so good part, the viewers may not find the film very engaging or enjoying. But then, experimental pieces like these are not meant to be. And to me, it was a very decent work. Also, in case the time switch explanation is not believable, please read the below.

Spoiler Alert. Best to read after watching. Click to read

The whole film can be seen from the view of a child’s imagination.This child has stolen his mom’s ring as a valentine gift to his crush. But he knows he has done wrong and he is worried. Under the shower he thinks of different possibilities and worries if his action will lead to his parent’ separation or worse… He still tries to hold on to the ring to impress the girl (Shruti), but ultimately gives up after thinking though all possibilities.

Overall, worth a watch!

AglaPlay Verdict: Worth a watch
AglaPlay Rating: 3.0/5
Language: Hindi
Duration: ~14 minutes
Writer: Shubham Yogi
Director:  Shubham Yogi
Cast: Kabir Sajid Shaikh (Karan),
Mona Singh (Priya / Karan's mom),
Faisal Rashid (Ajit / Karan's dad),
Vinita Joshi (Reena / House help) &
Others

Glitch: Time travel story of a ten year old