Category: Short Film

The Guest ★★★

A thriller that tells story of a young man asking help from an old lady on a dark lonely night…

The protagonist’s car breaks down in midst of the mountains. The poor guy walks miles to find a town or a mechanic but to no avail. Finally he knocks at a house and the landlady answers.

The camera work is good. Note that I can be biased here. I always like seeing the mountains. I am an avid trekker (till before Covid-19 hit). Valleys with small village houses and greenery around soothes me. It is something with the greenery of the plants, or the vastness of open space, and the smell of fresh air of the mountains or even hills which have this magical effect on me. Many of us, including me have to stay in the cities for earning our bread, but it is always like mountains calling out to me. Here, I will also praise the genuineness in simplicity of the portrayal of a small town home with an outhouse changed to godown – the single flickering bulb, the simple bed with mattress. The simplicity is the beauty of camerawork here.

To really enjoy the short film to its fullest, I will request you to put your feet in the protagonist’s shoes. Imagine that your car has broken down and you are stuck in the situation with no shops or person around. What will you do? How will you manage? The climax will hit you and it will hit you hard if you follow this small advice of ours!

Negative is that there is nothing in the movie. The landlady herself appears after more than half of the movie is passed. The movie could have been half its size, may be, and still would have delivered similar impact.

However, it is a must watch for the end. As you know from above, you can skip first half of the movie without any impact on your experience!

AglaPlay Verdict: A must watch for its end
AglaPlay Rating: 3.0/5
Language: Hindi
Duration: ~8 minutes
Writer:  Parveez Sheikh 
Director: Ayappa K. M.
Cast: Avinash Tiwari (Stranger),
Davinder Madan (Landlady) & 
Others
The Guest: Mediocre short with great ending

Half Full ★★★½

Abhay is anxiously waiting for something when a stranger knocks at his door on a rainy night.

The short film starts with a stranger knocking on protagonist (Abhay) door. The stranger’s car has broken down amidst the heavy rains. Abhay, meanwhile, was desperately waiting for something to happen and was repeatedly looking at the wall clock before this stranger comes. The two end up discussing the things which are bothering Abhay. The short ends has a shocking revelation about the stranger.

First of all, the acting is very good. Especially from Vikrant Massey (Chhapak fame). He has performed extremely well, and holds his own in presence of the legend Naseerudin Shah.

Then comes the direction. The audience connect to Abhay and his feelings, without any specifics provided at all. We personally like the short films which talk of hardships and challenges that people face everyday. Abhay is also stuck, like so many of us. His so few words reflect the feelings of so many. Director Karan has taken few artistic liberties to dramatize the situation to the worst, but if you will just pause and see through, you will see conundrums, the hopes and the challenges you and I face everyday. Anyways, let’s move on to the negatives.

First on the negative is that the short is available on Zee5 only. That means paid subscriptions for those who do not have it. We will come with a short article later on availing best offers to get Zee5, but that is for later. The second minor short coming of the movie is the end which may not be liked or accepted by everyone.

Overall, it is a good one and we at Aglaplay recommend a watch!

AglaPlay Verdict: Worth a watch
AglaPlay Rating: 3.5/5
Language: Hindi
Duration: ~10 minutes
Writer:  Karan Rawal 
Director: Karan Rawal
Cast: Vikrant Massey (Abhay), 
Naseeruddin Shah (Stranger)

Link: https://www.zee5.com/movies/details/half-full

Bin Bulaaye ★★½

Award winning short about a daughter longing for her father amidst the challenges that life throws at her.

The short film is about a young girl who is living in the house of her father. Her father, seemingly a poet, is no more but his memories remain through his words and more. The house is visited by a cook and, the unannounced guests who keep coming over to the place. The story is told through interactions of these characters and the poetic words, which are narrated by Naseeruddin Shah.

Let me spill out one spoiler now itself. Naseeruddin Shah is only present as the voice-over. Sorry, but as you will see, it was not really a spoiler. The narration of Naseerudin Shah is very soothing and done well. I have seen him performing without mics. Mr Shah moves the audience merely with the oratory skills, the acting comes second.

Pardon me, I deviated. Coming to movie at hand, the best part is its simplicity. There is nothing complex about the inter-relations or the treatment. No scene has been exaggerated or overloaded with heavy musics and paraphernalia. It is a simple life, flowing as it does with its own crests and troughs. That actually also becomes its negative, though. Please read on.

The film is too simplistic with nothing much to offer to the audience. The end seems out of place from the rest of the story. The short film was awarded by MAMI awards 2019 (Mumbai Academy of Moving Images) which may be because of the effect of the star-cast. But I will be able to comment on that only after watching other nominations.

Overall, it is nothing great and you may skip this one. 

AglaPlay Verdict: Average
AglaPlay Rating: 2.5/5
Language: Hindi/English
Duration: ~19 minutes
Writer: Debasmita Dasgupta, 
Anshul Tiwari (based on short story
written by Madhumita Dasgupta)
Director:  Anshul Tiwari
Cast: Ira Dubey (protagonist),
Jhuma Biswas (maid),
Arfi Lamba,
Dilshad Patel &
Naseerudin Shah (Voice over / Poet-Father)

Watch now!

Kriti ★★★½

Manoj Vajpayee and Radhika Apte starrer psychological thriller which keeps audience on edge.

Synopsis: Sapan is schizophrenic. He pays regular visits to her psychiatrist, who is trying to help Sapan both in the capacity of a doctor and a friend. Kriti is Sapan’s live-in partner. She is a mystery to the psychiatrist, and also to Sapan. Kirit has her own psychological disorders, and suffers severely from agoraphobia. The film unfolds the dark secrets and explores morbid twists of psychological issues among the trio.

What works: The film Kriti is a thoroughly enjoyable thriller. The film manages to keep audience on the hook about what would happen next. The short film is also a proof that one doesn’t need full feature length for creating great stories. An experienced and talented star-cast also helps. The performances are good. Manoj Vajpayee particularly has delivered a splendid schizophrenic Sapan. Neha Sharma, Radhika Apte and Manu Rishi all fit the role well.

Negatives: Nothing from the film per se, except that it may be dark and unsettling for those who do not like the genre. Period. However…

One negative for me was the ‘inspiration’ Writer-Director-Prodcuer Sirish Kunder takes from the original Bob without giving due credit to original source material. Seemingly, the film is inspired from Nepalese short film Bob. Sirish has also vocally pretested against these allegations. To be fair, Kriti goes much farther in the story-line and the twists; but I see some merit in the plagiarism claims. Some of the scenes, the theme, and especially the doctor-patient discussions seem copied-pasted from Bob. Such attempts demotivate the hard working lower budget counterparts and would be highly detrimental for further expanse of the creative works. One relevant article is here.

AglaPlay Verdict: A good psychological thriller
AglaPlay Rating: 3.5/5
Language: Hindi
Duration: ~17 minutes
Writer: Sirish Kunder
Director:  Sirish Kunder
Cast: Manoj Vajpayee (Sapan),
Radhika Apte (Psychiatrist),
Neha Sharma (Kriti) &
Others

Watch now!

Tindey ★★★★½

A hot and sweet take on extra-marital misadventures of a man in his 40s.

Synopsis

This film is about the misadventures of a middle aged man, Kranti. A faithful husband, Kranti somehow gets lured into exploring dating app Tinder Tindey by his colleague. On the other end of the app is a suave, hip gal in her 20s, Molly. Somehow, the chemistry clicks and…. well… I will hold the synopsis here. Saying anything extra may just ruin it a bit for you because this one, is hilarious.

What works

This one is an absolute must watch. The theme which seems so generic has twists and turns which are done very different than other attempts on similar topics. At least, the ones I have watched or read. Tindey strikes just the right balance between comedy, emotions, dialogues, presentation – just everything seems perfect about this one! The short duration format also helps Tindey, as the full length feature films fall in the issues of extended emotional scenes (and songs). Tindey perhaps is able to maintain the balance because there was not much time… Perhaps!

On acting front, the leads have done a tremendous job, but any review would be incomplete without praising Ashwini Kalsekar (Mrs. Kranti). From the first scene to the closure, she is just splendid. Great job there!

What could have been better:

None.

Verdict

Must watch. Except for references to online dating format and the usage of app by married people, the film is suitable for all age groups subject to viewers discretion.

AglaPlay Verdict: Must watch
AglaPlay Rating: 4.5/5
Language: Hindi
Duration: ~20 minutes
Writer: Seemaa Desai
Director:  Seemaa Desai
Cast: Rajesh Sharma,
Ashwini Kalsekar,
Adah Sharma,
Mukesh Bhatt,
Abhishek Khanna

Watch now!