Synopsis
Balloon Pinch is an analysis of the perspectives. A father has lost his son in an accident. This bereaved father meets with a guy in a bar who reminds him of his lost son. After a few pegs and talks, the two open up to each other. This short film is the story of the hidden darkness, and circumstantial helplessness of the two characters.
What works
Vikram Gokhale is the star of the show and carries Balloon Pinch on his able, tenured shoulders. As expected, he is fantastic in every shot. Anger, sadness and his powerlessness as a father – all of it reflects not only though his words, but equally though his eyes and body language.
Here, I must appreciate the director Sanjay Rawal as well who did a great work on some unforgettable scenes like the one where Vikram throws the stirrer on bar.
Balloon Pinch has a great story. In comparison to other attempts int his genre, this short film successfully shows both the sides to the audience. Moreover, the setup, the camera work are also well done and we do not find anything to complain on the technical as well.
What could have been better
First, the language. Time and again I have felt that some content is just more suited to vernacular languages. Balloon Pinch is an example of such content. The first thought that came to me while watching this short film was how much better it could have felt had it been in Hindi or Marathi! Not so much to my amazement, the short film was first shot in Marathi, then dubbed to English…
Second, Karan Bendre could just have much better. In contrast to Vikram’s performance, he delivers far less that what was expected from him in Balloon Pinch.
Verdict
Overall, it is definitely worth a watch. In particular, I liked the story and the detailing both helplessness of both the characters has been brought out.
AglaPlay Verdict: Worth a watch AglaPlay Rating: 3.5/5 Language: Hindi / English (Marathi link also provided) Duration: ~8 minutes Writer: Bhavesh Rawal Director: Sanjay Rawal Cast: Vikram Gokhle, Karan Bendre