Category: Thriller

Recipe ★★★

A thriller short telling the story of one night in a live-in couple’s life.

Synopsis

Recipe is a thriller about a live-in couple. Adopted from Roald Dahl’s Lamb to the Slaughter, the short film is modernized to give contemporary contexts. The girl is pregnant with the guy’s child, and she is also very serious about the relationship. Naturally, she wants to marry the guy who has different opinions. What happens next is hinted at in this short suspense thriller.

What works

In comparatively very-short role, Shalin Thakur makes his mark in Recipe. Even with very few dialogues for his namesake character, the irritation and agitation looks very real.

What could have been better

While Recipe has a good story from Roald Dahl’s classic, it could have simply been much better if the whole story was adopted. Particularly the end of Roald’s original is much more impactful than the Recipe’s. May be it is my bias towards original, but I feel that the original story with very slight changes and reordering would have been more relevant than this short film.

Partly because of the bias too, I did not like that the original work is not at all credited in the credits.

Verdict

Recipe is a decent watch, it is just that it could have been much better in my opinion.

AglaPlay Verdict: Average, one time watch
AglaPlay Rating: 3.0/5
Language: Hindi
Duration: ~8 minutes
Writer:Shoyeb Shaikh, adapted (not credited) from Lamb to the Slaughter written by Roald Dahl
Director: Shoyeb Shaikh
Cast: Shalin Thakur (Shalin), 
Sania Chaudhari (Sania) &
Others
Recipe: A Thriller Involving a Live-in Couple

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The Deal ★★½

A girl torn between reality and desires strikes a deal to get what she thought she wanted… What happens next?

Synopsis

The Deal is a horror thriller about a girl alone in her friend’s home. The short film is about a deal that is done between the girl and the other. What was the deal and what happens next is shown in this short horror flick of 8 minutes.

What works

The Deal has good scare quotient. To director’s credit, these are not cheap scares which are generally applied in the Bollywood movies. However one may debate these are so oft repeated, oft reproduced ones, to the extent that one may call them borderline cliche.

Popular child actress of 2000s, Ahsaas Channa, has acted well in The Deal. Also, we do not have any complains with the setup, lighting and the camera work.

What could have been better

To be honest,The Deal lacks a good story! In fact, the short film feels like one half-baked idea served with cliched horror situations. We believe some extension of the idea could have helped. Further, the basic premise seem flawed when you try to think about the flat where the girl’s friend was living fine.

Verdict

Despite good execution, The Deal lives short of the expectation. Weak (and partially flawed) story line humbles the otherwise good work.

AglaPlay Verdict: Average
AglaPlay Rating: 2.5/5
Language: Hindi / English
Duration: ~8 minutes
Writer-Director: GLN (?)
Cast: Ahsaas Channa
The Deal: Desires versus Fear: A Horror Short

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A Simple Plan ★★★

An old man ‘plans’ to nab a young couple who rob people with their ‘plan’ asking for lift

Synopsis

A Simple Plan is a story of plannings going wrong. On his regular route between two cities, Subhash regularly sees a couple asking for lift. The protagonist decides to investigate them after police refuses any help. Now we have our protagonist who has his plans to capture the rogues in the act, while the couple has other plans. As the short film goes on to prove, the simplest plans are not so simple in execution!

What Works

A Simple Plan has a very good story. It is an engaging piece of writing from Kalpesh Mistry. The writing keep the viewer on hook till the last scene. The short film is full of action and there is hardly a dull moment in the film. End is dark, but then, it was supposed to be a dark comedy!

What could have been better

Everything else except story could have been done much better in A Simple Plan.

To start with, the acting is not up to the mark. Actors feel detached from the characters. In particular, Supriya Mishra disappoints in her portrayal of Chitra.

Another problem with A Simple Plan is its camerawork. The camera seems to be out of focus on so many scenes that you no longer even care.

Third, but perhaps the biggest fault of the short film is its badly done action scenes. Everyone moves out of sync in action sequence.

Verdict

On many fronts, A simple plan is very similar to Urf Professor (2001). The statement can be taken as a compliment as Urf Professor enjoys a cult status today. But it must be noted that Urf Professor is known for its faults, and today’s short films cannot be judged with 2001 standards.

Overall, A Simple Plan is helped by its engaging story-line and is worth a watch for fans of dark-humor.

AglaPlay Verdict: Worth a watch
AglaPlay Rating: 3.0/5
Language: Hindi
Duration: ~18 minutes
Writer-Director: Kalpesh Mistry
Cast: Kumar Pravesh (Subhash), 
Jayesh Pandey (Rajat), 
Supriya Mishra (Chitra), 
Sachin K Jaryal (Police Constable) &
Emraanakbar Enamdar (Victim)
A Simple Plan: Dark Comedy which deserves a watch!

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Soulmate ★★★

A dark love story of a live-in couple from Thriller/Horror genre.

Synopsis

Soulmate is a thriller shot in black and white. It is a story of a couple who share a flat. Like other couple, they get into arguments time and again. The opening scene is a similar situation where the guy has to leave for some days, but he is angry with the girl and does not want to talk with her. The girl sadly bids him good bye. The boy returns home bringing all the joy to his partner, but… Now, there is a but which will be revealed best when you watch the movie!

What works

Soulmate has the surprise/shock element that is required by the genre. To its credit, it delivers that shock to the audience very well.

Also, we liked the acting of the central character played by Saloni. Considering the limited scope of the character-play in Soulmate, it is notable that she leaves an impression on the viewers.

What could have been better

Cinematography could have been better in Soulmate. I liked the idea of monochromatic cinematography. However, the execution is very bad. The whole movie seemed out of focus, which might have been caused by a poor camera or post-processing. Either way, the end result is not appealing to the eyes.

Verdict

Overall, Soulmate is an average short film which does a decent job in presenting a short thriller. At less than 12 minutes of running time, it is worth a watch.

AglaPlay Verdict: Worth a watch
AglaPlay Rating: 3.0/5
Language: Hindi
Duration: ~12 minutes
Directors: Anshuman singh & Yasir Jah
Cast: Saloni Choujar,
Yasir Jah & 
Anshuman Singh

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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