Ved and Arya ★★★

Arya surprise visits her brother on Friday evening. She is looking all lively and casual, but is everything normal?

Synopsis

Ved and Arya is story of brother-sister bonding. This short story focuses on the non-judgemental nature of the brotherly love. Arya visits her brother Ved on a Friday evening which gets Ved concerned. After all, it is a Friday evening and Arya always has some plans for Friday. From there, this story of Arya’s failure to hide the special thing in her life opens by layers.

What works

Ved and Arya has a very soothing undertone. The setup is very homely, relaxing and lighting is done very well. This short film can be watched as a short break from an otherwise hectic day spent in fighting cacophony of life.

Another thing we loved was camera work. May be it is an unplanned outcome, but camera moves as if it is following the conversation. Specially in the scene where Ved and Arya are in the kitchen, the camera focus increases with their conversation. While it may be missed consciously, we are affected by the sub-conscious effect of such nice work and soothing lighting.

Nakuul and Sanaya fit in their roles of Ved and Arya well. We have no complaints there.

What could be better

The story! The story could have been better. Like really, the story has absolutely nothing in it. Ved and Arya has supposedly a shocking reveal, but it was so obvious that we didn’t even bat an eyelid.

Also, the conversations are done well but their is hardly any real content in the discussions. The whole conversation moves with agenda of bringing out Arya’s past and Ved’s care for her. It is so uni-directional that we simply lost interest after a point.

Verdict

In summary, Ved and Arya is not bad, but sadly we cannot say it very good either. How about, a simple ‘Good’?

AglaPlay Verdict: Worth A Watch
AglaPlay Rating: 3.0/5
Language: Hindi / English
Duration: ~12 minutes
Writer: Sharanya Rajgopal
Director: Ritesh Menon
Cast: Nakuul Mehta,
Sanaya Irani
Ved and Arya: Bonding of siblings

Click here for our Short-Film Recommendations !

Khujli ★★★★½

A sweet romantic tale of a couple married for long. Love is not lost between them, neither has…

Synopsis

Khujli is a soothing heart-touching tale of a couple who have grown older together. They are normal John and Jane who have spent a normal life with normal things. In a sudden twist, the husband finds out that wife is not as sweet and innocent as he thought her to be. This beautiful short film depicts that twist!

What Works

Firstly, on-screen chemistry of Neena Gupta and Jackie Shroff is just amazing. The acting could not have been better!

Especially, the nuisances and the shocks are so life-like! Kudos to writer-director Sonam for bringing this story which borders on kinkiness but delivers with such sweetness.

While many stories talk of love in long term relations, few talk of the longing lust. Moreover, even fewer manage to tell it with the beauty Khujli does. By all means, sex is itself a taboo in Indian society. For this reason, it is regularly scorned, frowned and laughed at, given the situation and the audience. In the land of Kamasutra and nation with the fastest growing population, the treatment is anything but strange.

One may believe that the situation would be different on internet where everyone has a veil, an anonymity… But sadly, even when has anonymity and censor-free medium to release bold content, many a times even best of the directors translate it to pure-play skin show, or try to sell mediocre material after quoting it with sensuality and at times, perversion. We hence respect Khujli‘s team in bringing this out with such sweetness! Thank you, Ms Nair!

What could be better

Generally speaking, there is no negative on the film from AglaPlay’s end. Please let us know if you didn’t like something!

Verdict

To summarize, this is a must watch! There are explicit references to BDSM: parental guidance is recommended.

AglaPlay Verdict: Must watch
AglaPlay Rating: 4.5/5
Language: Hindi
Duration: ~14 minutes
Writer: Sonam Nair
Director:  Sonam Nair
Cast: Jackie Shroff, 
Neena Gupta &
Others
Khujli: Scratching 25 year old khujli in relationship…

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Glitch ★★★

A ten year old travels though the time to save his parents’ relationship.

Karan is the central character in Glitch. He is a 10 year old boy who accidentally discovers a time-control switch. This time switch can take him across a few hours – not more. The short film shows Karan uses the switch to prevent the possible separation of his parents.

I am going off beat here but the movie reminded me of The Butterfly Effect. In case you had not watched it, try that, it is a good movie to watch. It also reminded me of the fantasy short stories penned by famed director Dr Satyajit Rai. He has written several such short stories. I t would be amazing to see a few of them to be presented in a short film. Bordering on science fiction and sometimes, occult, the stories are just so enjoyable.

Anyways, back to the Glitch that we have here. On the positive side, I praise Shubham for bringing out this experimental work. The story is interesting. well-written. Kabir (Secret Superstar famed child actor) does complete justice toe the role and in fact, he is the one who carries the whole film on his shoulders. You may see the film advertised with Mona Singh’s name but that is largely the marketing part of it. One should watch this movie for the way Kabir carries this whole project through. Highly appreciate Shubham-Kabir duo!

On the not so good part, the viewers may not find the film very engaging or enjoying. But then, experimental pieces like these are not meant to be. And to me, it was a very decent work. Also, in case the time switch explanation is not believable, please read the below.

Spoiler Alert. Best to read after watching. Click to read The whole film can be seen from the view of a child’s imagination.This child has stolen his mom’s ring as a valentine gift to his crush. But he knows he has done wrong and he is worried. Under the shower he thinks of different possibilities and worries if his action will lead to his parent’ separation or worse… He still tries to hold on to the ring to impress the girl (Shruti), but ultimately gives up after thinking though all possibilities.

Overall, worth a watch!

AglaPlay Verdict: Worth a watch
AglaPlay Rating: 3.0/5
Language: Hindi
Duration: ~14 minutes
Writer: Shubham Yogi
Director:  Shubham Yogi
Cast: Kabir Sajid Shaikh (Karan),
Mona Singh (Priya / Karan's mom),
Faisal Rashid (Ajit / Karan's dad),
Vinita Joshi (Reena / House help) &
Others
Glitch: Time travel story of a ten year old