Category: Short Film

Mama’s Boys ★★½

A modern, naughty take on Mahabharata, with Pandavas, Kunti and Draupadi in the 21st century

Reader’s discretion advised. Some of the content in this review and the short film might be unsuitable for younger audience.

Synopsis

Mama’s Boys depicts a modern, naughty take on Mahabharata. The short film starts with Arjun bringing his newly wed wife Draupdi into the house for the first time. Subsequently, Kunti orders Pandavas to share Draupdi among them. Obviously, this puts Arjun in a fix. On one hand, he doesn’t want to ‘share’ his beautiful wife! On the other hand, he is a ‘mama’s boy’ and cannot refute Kunti’s order. Mama’s Boys explores an alternative re-imagination of he scenario from the perspective of Draupdi and the five brothers.

What works

Big budget and strong cast works for this short film. In comparison to new faces, it is proven that watching known faces is more soothing. Scientifically, this innate preference worked for us to progress by stronger social bindings, and to make friends (and enemies).

And this ingrained preference work in favor of Mama’s Boys. From Neena Gupta, Aditi Rao, Arunoday Singh to Razak Khan, the list continues. To tell you frankly, Mama’s Boys becomes borderline tolerable thanks to the star cast, otherwise this would have fallen flat on its face.

In particular, Aditi in the role of Draupdi has good facial expression and appears sensuous as required by the screenplay. Arjun played by Amol Parashar is also good.

What could have been better

Everything else! Just about everything could have been much better. Clearly, the team had no budget or talent constraints and they could have used such talent in much better story. To start with, the whole film does not flow coherently. Instead, it feels like collection of short incidents where you no longer even want to relate to the issue at hand.

Then comes the story. Delhi-Belly fame Akshat Verma has directed and written the short film. I liked that movie and the story Akshat presented, but that skill and the flow is completely amiss in Mama’s Boys. Consequently, the whole short film of 13 minutes (credits of 2 minutes extra) reduces to a random collection of sexual innuendoes.

Verdict

It is watchable thanks to the star cast, otherwise the short film offers nothing new or interesting. 

AglaPlay Verdict: A run-of-the-mill production with nothing new or interesting. Okay to watch for star cast.
AglaPlay Rating: 2.5/5
Language: Hindi
Duration: ~13 minutes
Writer: Akshat verma
Director:  Akshat verma
Cast: Aditi Rao Hydari, 
Amol Parashar,
Arunoday Singh, 
Jim Sarbh,
Neena Gupta,
Razak Khan,
Vivaan Shah,&
Others
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=No6Q5aeTWzk
Mama’s Boys: Big Star Cast with Little Content

Click here for our Short-Film Recommendations !

Muskaan ★★★

Rahul plans a surprise to woo his crush Muskaan, but not everything goes as planned.

Synopsis

Rahul is planning a surprise for the girl he likes, and he has planned everything meticulously. After all, it could be the most important day of his life! Therefore, he chooses the best gift and orders a designer cake. It is the day to sweep her off her feet, but the fate had something else planned for him!

What works

Many things work in favor of this 3-minute short film. Firstly, the length itself is very appealing. In busy life, it is hard to find out time. Certainly it was very nice to see the short length of 3 minutes. Also, these 3 minutes are well spent! Secondly, the simplicity of the message work as a charm. Muskaan is free from complications and twists. Thirdly, and most importantly, it ends with a beautiful message.

What could have been better

We would rather not mention anything here in this section. Muskaan is a three-minute short film, and a very nice one at that.

Verdict

In short, please watch this short film. As they say, there is always a reason to smile, and Muskaan just might be one!

AglaPlay Verdict: Do watch!
AglaPlay Rating: 3.0/5
Language: Hindi
Duration: ~3 minutes
Writer: Vikas Sharma
Director:  Sumel Brar
Cast: -
Muskaan: A 3-minute must watch

Raah ★★★

A guy offers lift to a girl. Catch? She is fascinated with ghosts and, the road is allegedly haunted!

Synopsis

In middle of nowhere, Ram gives a lift to a pretty girl Urvashi. They discuss about ghosts where they have opposing opinions. Saying anything beyond this will leak at least some part of the story, hence we stop here on the synopsis.

What works

The good things come in small packages, they say. Many of the short films prove it, but Raah owns it. In merely fifteen minutes, two actors and a hatchback, it takes the viewer through a roller coaster ride of suspense, relief and joy.

Raah excels in the direction parameter. The otherwise not so great story and budget constrained effects are brought out coherently. Twists in the story feel natural and timely. The music is functional, and does its job.

The short film comes as a welcome relief from the stable of cheaply made suspense thrillers. Cheap scares and jumping camera – forte of this genre – are totally avoided here and I thank the camera team and director for the same.

What could have been better

Budget. Ultimately, it is a low budget short film. That means there are compromises. The film suffers from shaky and grainy video. The maximum resolution is 720p and even that is quite dark. Sound quality is also not great but definitely manageable.

Verdict

A very good watch, especially for suspense/horror aficionados. If you can manage through the shortcomings of video quality, we would highly recommend the short film for the efforts and heart the team has put in.

AglaPlay Verdict: Do watch!
AglaPlay Rating: 3.0/5
Language: English/Hindi
Duration: ~15 minutes
Writer: Prateek Payodhi & Others
Director:  Prateek Payodhi
Cast: Rishi Verma,
Swarnika telang &
Others
Raah: worth a watch for suspense/horror aficionados

Exchange Offer ★★★★

A retired school principal accepts an exchange offer of his old personal computer, bringing several other changes as well.

Synopsis

Shiv Kumar Pant is a retired school principal living a lonely life in Delhi. He has lost his wife, while the son lives in California. Shiv is a loner by design, and he rebuffs any attempt of socialization. Consequently, he has very little contact with his relatives except his son. Moreover, Shiv is unappreciative of any changes in life!

However, destiny has other plans! One fine day, Shiv’s 16-year old computer breaks down. During these sixteen long years, technologies have changed a lot and the repair is not possible. As a result, Shiv agrees for the replacement with a newer computer. Only if he knew what other changes will this single exchange will bring…

What works

The character development of the central character is among the best we have seen in recent times. The director has not rushed through scenes. Ample time and space is given to the character of Shiv Kumar Pant to grow. Every feature of the character is brought out delicately. We connected with Raina as Shiv as a strict disciplinarian, a lonely widower and a hobbyist.

Even the non-central characters of son and house-help are developed well. We get to know about Bisveswar by his comic ranting. Facial expressions of Aryan in role of helpless son deserve an appreciation.

Story is very well-thought, accompanied by a very effective screenplay and editing. The film picks up finer facets in the lives of the characters and deliver them very beautifully, one at a time. All the messages, including the central message which is displayed at the end of the short film is delivered at a perfect pace.

What could have been better

Call me a fault-finder, but ‘Amit’ feels schemed and artificial in many scenes. It may be director’s hint to the climax, but we feel otherwise. In our opinion, Taher could have done a much better ‘Amit’.

Another minor drawback is the last scene of the film. Except for the climatic end, the whole movie is very realistic. A simple climax would have seemed logically and aesthetically ordered. Instead we get a larger-than-life climax focusing on just two characters. That was out-of-sync to us.

Verdict

Exchange Offer is almost a masterpiece. Even with its few passable nuisances, it is a very good short. 

AglaPlay Verdict: Do watch!
AglaPlay Rating: 4.0/5
Language: Hindi
Duration: ~29 minutes
Writer: Saunak Mitra
Director:  Saunak Mitra
Cast: M K Raina (Shiv Pant),
Taher Shabbir (Amit Kulkarni),
Surendra Ranjan (Bisveswar),
Aryan Roy(Rishabh Pant) &
Others
Exchange Offer: A very good one

The Job ★

A French girl is under pressure to retain her job in India, while suffering from psychological disorders.

Synopsis

The protagonist is a French national. She is working as an expat in India. She has troubles differentiating between reality and illusion, leading her to wash her hands repeatedly and other non-normal activities. The Job is titled so to reflect her pressure to continue working and somehow manage to keep her current employment.

What works

The name of Kalki Koechin. If she was not there in the movie, I might not have even opened the link, and would have closed it in 2 minutes tops.

What doesn’t work

Nothing works in this short film. Quite likely, the viewer would be in suspense what the film wanted to say even after completing the film. On the positive side, though, I wonder that the emotion would be shared with the production team…

One of the you tube commenters (possibly one from the movie production team itself) has tried to provide of the short-film has tried answering the query but that still leaves a lot of loop-holes open.

Many a time super-hit Bollywood blockbusters also have such issues of failures and unbelievable plots. For example, Shahkrukh’s character in Chennai Express was a rich businessman’s grandson and had never been to Goa. Later, he decides to risk his grandpa’s ashes for a Goa trip with friends! Seriously, Goa trip for a Mumbaikar? Just to put the character in train?

However, Chnnai Express was at least enjoyable and entertaining. On the other hand,The Job is neither.

Even at acting level, it is a straight face Kalki maintains in the whole short. May be a little here and there, but the above featured image on this review is what you will see from Kali in the whole movie. That is her working face, her talking to boss face, her murdering face, her hand-washing face – everything. It is there!

I can take flights of fantasy and can still justify the story, but I still won’t be able to turn it entertaining for any of the audiences or readers, hence…

Verdict

Please avoid and save 13-14 minutes of your life!

AglaPlay Verdict: AVOID
AglaPlay Rating: 1.0/5
Language: English/French
Duration: ~13 minutes
Writer: Siddharth Sinha
Director:  Siddharth Sinha
Cast: Kalki Koechin
The Job: Avoid and save 13 minutes of your lives

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