Category: Online

Khamakha ★★★★½

Winner of Filmfare Award 2017, this short film tells story of an encounter of a suave guy and a remarkable girl in a state transport bus.

Synopsis: Winner of Filmfare award in 2017, the film is about a sophisticated guy who has to travel on state bus. There is a girl on the adjacent row, who is reading a Hindi novel. The differences become more prominent as they converse with each other.

What works: Winning Filmfare award itself speaks loads, so I won’t be talking about the performances or the direction. What stands out in this film is the dialogue. The prattle between the two strangers who have very different outlooks is written well and performed better by the leads. Then they are also occupied with judgemental opinions about the other. The direction has excelled in bringing out these subtleties.

The music – the song ‘Khamakha: The Song‘ is soothing to ears and I listened it separately after completing the film. We needed such song after listening to Masakali 2.0 for 30 seconds! 😉

Negative: Nothing, well… there is nothing special about the film or, the journey whose story is depicted in the film. AglaPlay believes that this is what makes it special.

Verdict: The viewers would enjoy every movement of the film and it is so soothing! 

AglaPlay Verdict: A soothing, sweet short film, must watch!
AglaPlay Rating: 4.5/5
Language: Hindi/English
Duration: ~17 minutes
Writer: Aarti Bagdi
Director:  Aarti Bagdi
Cast: Manjari Fadnnis, 
Harshvardhan Rane 
& Others
Khamkha: a trip which will refresh you

Laugh ★★★★

Short film contrasts three friends spending evening together in pre-mobile and current times, and tries to explore the real meaning of laugh.

Synopsis: Enacted by the best of the actors – Sanjai Mishra, Sheeba Chadda, Vrijesh Hirje & Brijendra Kala – the short movie highlights the contrast of pre-mobile days with today. It shows what the laugh should be. The trio of friendly neighbors are enjoying an evening together in 1967 and then the scene jumps to communication among same friends in 2016.

What works: The boorishness of the film actually works. The unmannerly conversations of three friends without any concerns whatsoever towards the sophistication is tear-jerking! The film is a must watch for a laugh and a reminiscence of older days.

The dialogues are also uncomplicated but are charming to the core. In the first few scenes itself, the play of words by Vrijesh with Sheeba will tickle you. There is also a joke which is central to the short film’s narrative. Please don’t expect much from it… It is just raw, lewd and disgusting, but still that joke and this whole film carries itself with such aplomb.

Parental Advice for Young Audience: Some parts of the movie are lewd and inappropriate for younger audience. Besides, the film might be irrelevant or ‘period’ for anyone who grew up in Whatsapp generation.

AglaPlay Verdict: A must watch, few pieces are inappropriate for younger audience
AglaPlay Rating: 4.0/5
Language: Hindi
Duration: ~8 minutes
Writer: Akshay Choubey
Director:  Akshay Choubey
Cast: Sanjai Mishra, 
Sheeba Chadda, 
Vrijesh Hirje,
Brijendra Kala &
Lateesha Dorik

Family Business ★★★★

A 20-minutes comedy play about a jobless MBA who is being persuaded by his father to join the family business.

This one-act play starts with a successful business man’s corporate AGM. This successful business tycoon was not born rich, though. As an young MBA graduate he failed to land a job for two years. All those two years, he was also being persuaded by his father to join the family business, which the protagonist didn’t want to.

This short comedy play tells the story of this young man, his passion, the family pressure and his eventual rise to riches – all in bite sized presentation of 20 minutes.

There are a few versions available online. There are minor differences between them with the dialogues. I would suggest 2017 version performed at Prithvi because of audio and video quality (link below).

2017, Open Stage, Prithvi Theatre2019

AglaPlay Verdict: A must watch, suitable for audience of all ages
AglaPlay Rating: 4.0/5
Language: Hindi
Duration: ~20 minutes
Writer: Om Katare
Director:  Om Katare
Cast: Rajesh & Others

Radhesham Lodge ★★★

A short film on a peddler who does some suspicious business in broad daylight. Will he get caught?

There is a peddler who seemingly sells some illegal stuff on the road. He has regular customers and seems to be doing pretty well. Old and new both customers are pretty well aware of his location outside Radhesham lodge where he does his business in broad daylight.

The short film stands out on all technical aspects – the direction, cinematography, VFX, the music – are all done very well. The lead Ranjan Raj brings the character to life. The film should be watched for the freshness itself if not for anything else!

AglaPlay recommends to watch the film once for its freshness and the performance by the lead. 

AglaPlay Verdict: A short social comic movie
AglaPlay Rating: 3.0/5
Language: Hindi
Duration: 10 minutes
Writer: Pulkit Goyal and Others
Director:  Pulkit Goyal
Cast: Ranjan Raj(Peddler),
Dhananjay Uppalwad,
Abhigyan Joshi,
& Others

Love in December ★★★★

A sweet romantic comedy enacted by IIT Bombay students, the play tells the story of Rahul and Tina who meet at Virar railway station.

‘Love in December’ is a sweet college play performed by IIT Bombay students. Several years have passed since it was performed. Few jibes which were contemporary at that time will seem out of time, but it still has that quality that innocent humor that will remain timeless.

Our hero, Rahul meets a girl at Virar railway station. The girl is none other than his school-time crush, Tina. What happens next? Rahul never had courage to share his feelings with Tina when he had all the time and opportunity in school days. Tonight, he has four hours that too thanks to delay in arrival of the train. Even those four hours are not without incidents, anyway. Besides, Tina has a boyfriend now!

This romantic comedy is executed very beautifully on all aspects. The dialogues, the performances are top notch and at par with professional theatre. There are a few compromises in the setup and the wardrobe, like policeman wears Friday casuals in the play, but nothing that is a deal breaker. That is understandable given the budget and other. There are no compromises on the content and the performance – and that only matters. Music also suits to the situations and is timed well.

The play would be enjoyed by audience of all age group, but I believe that those in late-20s to 50s may relate it to a bit more – the absence of Whatsapp, before Facebook became popular, and people still had Nokia. Another minor shortcoming is that the video’s best quality available is 480p only with not very good audio capture. Also, there is no noise-cancellation from the audience as the play was filmed during live performance.

AglaPlay Verdict: A very beautifully done sweet romantic comedy
AglaPlay Rating: 4.0/5
Language: Hindi
Duration: 1 Hour+
Writer: -
Director:  -
Cast: Nitin Gupta(Rahul),
Vipul Goyal(Friend),
& Others

Watch now!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6-YDd43P71o
Love in December: a beautifully done college stage play