Raising a child is a hard task, more so when you have to do it alone. Life for single parents is a mix of swinging back and forth between duties of the house, child and the work place. It can be utterly hard to strike a balance between the two, to fend for the child as well as to ensure a holistic development. When a single parent carries out the task of both the parents, it can get stressful, frustrating, exhausting and draining. “Papa ki Tashi” is a short story which closely inspects the life of a father and his daughter after her mother’s demise.

Written by Anulata Rajnayar and narrated by Neelesh Misra, “Papa ki Tashi” is a sweet emotional tale of a struggling father who is recovering from the death oh his wife and trying to adjust to the extra duties thrust on him by fate. His daughter Tashi, 8 years old, is a smart child trying to deal with this unfortunate happening in her own ways. They both try to make sacrifices and compromise on little things in order to compensate for the sad loss. Both of them miss Tashi’s mother dearly, and the father wonders how she managed Tashi as well as all the house duties so efficiently.

The tale incorporates some emotionally moving moments as well as some important realizations about life and parenthood. Beautifully written, it is definitely a good way to spend your free time.

Amid this unfortunate pandemic that has struck the world, many people are contemplating over the philosophical attributes of this disaster. Maybe its karma, maybe nature is restoring its peace and paying us back for the exploitation that humans have inflicted on it, maybe the real virus is not COVID 19, but the human race itself. The terror created by this microorganism has forced people to sit at their homes and think about their actions. The same is the theme of this short film titled, Corona Virus- COVID 19.

The movie, set in 2049, advocates the idea of sustainable development, of using our resources in a way that we don’t compromise the ability of our future generations to meet their needs. Written and directed by Dushyant Kapoor, the film begins with a man digging up the earth for a few drops of water. The scorching heat leaves him exhausted; his lips are parched and his throat is dry with thirst. He has visions of his friend with whom he talks about the misused and exploited state of the earth. This scene is subsequently followed by others which raise questions on the objectionable treatment of nature and environment by humans, many of whom were killed by COVID 19 and some who fled the earth to Mars.

Corona Virus, a thought provoking film, perfectly fits the current situation and provides an overview of the future, the disastrous state which might be, if things and actions are not controlled in time.

One can hardly estimate the pain a person goes through, during any mishap, until one experiences it himself/herself. Talking of sexual harassments, rapes and violence against women, it is hard to empathise with victims, it is hard to understand the trauma or the suffering, it is quite often beyond comprehension. And so, we frequently end up blaming the sufferer, which are more or less projections of our denial, denial of the fact that something so gruesome can happen to us too, that we too can be prey to such heinous crimes. We try to comfort our conscience by rationalising, that maybe wearing longer skirts or avoiding public transport or not staying out at late hours can save us from these mishaps; the “precautions” should have been taken, it’s the woman’s fault, she wasn’t vigilant enough. Through these arguments, we are not only trying to unsuccessfully veil our own insecurities but also fuelling criminals, because it wasn’t their fault in the first place, was it?

Devi, a short film by Priyanka Banerjee, featuring leading female actresses including Kajol, Shruti Haasan, Neha Dhupia and many more, sheds light on the predicament of women in Indian society. With a single room as its set, the film harbours conversations between rape victims who were brutally murdered or burnt alive. They are arguing amongst themselves on whether another dead, rape victim should be let in their compact one-room abode or not. They try setting parameters to decide who stays and who leaves, in the process of which they reveal the inhuman treatment they were subjected to and ultimately reconcile, deciding to let the victim come in. Their hearts ache in unison and the eyes of the inhabitants fill up with tears when they receive a little girl, of not more than 10, among their clique of raped and murdered. 

I have come to realize that in the 21^st century, we care a bit too much about what people think about us. We’re always trying to adhere to the narrow beauty standards set by models or companies trying to promote their products and sometimes our inability to do so makes us feel self-conscious, incompetent and sad. The truth is, no matter how hard we try, people will never stop judging and we can never satisfy everyone. When we try to perfect our looks, maybe our accent isn’t good enough, when we try to work on our accent, our waist isn’t thin enough, it is a never-ending cycle of ifs and buts.

College wala pyaar, directed by Anahad Madhav casting Shreya Gupto and Ambrish Verma is a short film which caters to this very obsession of caring too much about what others think and always trying hard to be like the “cool kid” or trying hard to “fit in”. It shows the life of two young students who find themselves in miserable positions- a girl who tries hard too maintain her weight by going on diets, trying to grab on to more Instagram followers, wanting to be a part of the “perfect looking” girls and is unhappy in her attempts to do so; a boy who feels he looks gloomy all the time and is embarrassed of his inability to be fluent in the English language and is constantly being rejected in his interviews for the same.

The two students plagued by insecurities get to talking at a college party, form a close connection and decide to turn their lives around by “not giving a damn”. How do they come to this conclusion? Well click on the link below to find out!

21st century love is full of bitter sweet twists and turns. Unlike in the previous centuries and with increasing awareness among people, partners expect their lover to respect them and accept them as they are. Kaande Pohe is a sweet short film on the theme of respecting your partner’s choices and believing in their capabilities and decisions.

The film starts with a typical Indian set up, the first meet of a boy and a girl in an arranged marriage setting. The parents have a brief talk and ask the duo to spend some time alone on the terrace. The boy hesitantly starts the conversations and assures the girl that he is open minded. He also tells her that he would want her to work after her college as most of his friends’ wives do so. The girls surprises him and says that she is already working and has a career. The boy is taken aback and says that her parents never mentioned anything about her job. The girl reveals her starkly ‘unconventional’ job which is not confined by four walls of an office. The movie has some funny twists and has a remarkably cute end.

A Terribly Tiny Tales presentation, ‘Kaande Pohe’ is directed by Shubham Yogi, produced by Anuj Gosalia and co-produced by Savio Shenoy. The screenplay and dialogues are written by Shubham Yogi, based on the story by Sharanya Rajgopal and stars Ahsaas Channa, Tushar Pandey, Sameer Deshpandey, Sandhya Kute, Monu Kanojiya and Harsha Gupte.

The adorable short film is a cute addition to your Valentine’s celebration, click on the link below to find out what happens!