Since time immemorial, men and women have been told to behave in particular ways. The curse of time and irrationality metamorphosed these ways into norms and norms into pseudo-natural laws. They say pink is for girls and blue for boys. Buy a doll for your beautiful princess and a gun for your handsome prince. Tell your women to be less masculine and men to never let a teardown from the eye. For centuries, we bought these categorisations. We subsided our natural calling to fit in those societal norms, get approval, to live. The short film gender identity directly attacks these stereotypes and criticises the age-old gender-based unscientific, unjustifiable decrees.

Short film gender identity is a creation of content ka keeda, an award-winning youtube channel famous for its revolutionary short films and web series. It is a story reflecting the struggles of people who don’t identify their gender with the sex assigned to them at birth. The film portrays the daily struggles that start from early childhood, where the child is constantly forced to accept the societal notion of gender. They are told to suppress their feelings and fit in a world that knows nothing beyond a preconceived idea of man and woman.  

Gender identity is the story of Shiva and his mother, Jyoti. The 7-year-old Shiva likes the colour pink and loves dressing up and dancing. He identifies himself as a girl but struggles to understand why others don’t see him so. He finds it hard to be himself in the presence of his aggressive father, who constantly tells him to act like a conventional man. 

However, Shiva is not alone in his fight for identity. His mother, as a woman, is also battling with her husband for an equal share of love and respect. Learning from her struggle with identity, she stands for her son, whom she never wants to live in a box for fear of disapproval. She fights for herself and her son and encourages him to make his own identity. An identity entirely shaped and discovered by him.

The award-winning actress Richa Sony and child actor Aarav Sharma have acted so naturally as a mother and son duo that it melts the heart of the viewer. The dialogues of the film are also aptly framed and delivered.

Shiva and Jyoti’s story is the story of many who defies the discriminatory laws of the world and carve out their own identity. As a short film, gender identity inspires others to come out of their cages of biased cultural norms and fight for their identity.

Bhuvan Bam, one of India’s most famous YouTube Content Creator, actor and singer-songwriter dropped his self curated web series: Dhindora on 14th October, 2021. Bhuvan’s acting of different characters all together highlighted his fans’ favourites from the BB Ki Vines Universe in a unique background, and proved Bam’s versatile acting skills once again.

Dhindora, starring the BB Ki Vines Universe characters: Bhuvan, Bancho, Babli sir, Janki (Mummy), Bablu ji (Papa), Sameer Fuddi, Titu Mama and Papa Maakichu, all played by Bhuvan, stay true to their characters. The story follows the life of a middle class family, who come across life’s realities, unexpected scenarios and disappointments after the father wins a lottery. The series is packed with domestic eccentricity, social satire which caters both to the humour as well as make us come face to face with the daily ironies of the society. The famous Sameer and Bancho and their cuss-mouthing words cater to Bhuvan Bam’s fans and add cracking laughter in the story.

Review

The Web series follows simple storytelling techniques, making the series straightforward for the audience. Each episode, on average, is twenty minutes long. That might come as a short running time, but Bhuvan and the scriptwriters made sure that each episode had something weighty to offer. 

One of the most commendable features of the series is Bhuvan’s acting. He is playing more than one character, many of them appearing all together in one scene. However, Bhuvan’s acting is so phenomenal that the viewer becomes almost unconscious that the same man is acting behind all the characters in one frame.

Curated with social satire, Bhuvan comments on the themes of relationship, family, dreams, struggles, and the phoney ties people have made with each other. One of the most apparent critiques that Bhuvan attempted to make, which is present throughout the series, is how indifferent people have become with each other. The rush behind money and fame really blinds people into falsity and betrayals. In the current society, human’s innate nature of love and care has been blinded by other ulterior and non-important motives. 

Bhuvan also brings onboard the famous host of Crime Patrol, Anup Soni, whose hilarious spontaneous commentary adds to the humour flavours. Dhindora’s comedy is indeed a hundred percent in BB Ki Vines signature style. 

Bhuvan’s romantic interest in the series brings us the talented Gayatri Bhardwaj, playing Dr. Tara. Through their relationship, we see the explorations of friendship, dreams and promises. The character chemistry is sweet and fits well.

In short, Dhindora is a perfect watch for people who love social satire, want a light watch, with light suspense packed here and there. Oh, and the last episode of the series ends with a cliffhanger! 

TVF’s Aspirants may base itself on the trials and tribulations of UPSC aspirants and the emotional challenges that three friends have to navigate in their adult lives, however, deep down, the web-series manages to capture the uncertainty of our millennial selves. There is so much to unpack here. From the uncertainty that hangs upon relationships to strained friendships, TVF’s Aspirants may have started off as a web-series about the burdens that a UPSC aspirant has to navigate during their preparations, however, now, it has evolved into something much more.

As of this moment, TVF’s Aspirants stands as a web-series about true human lives. The creative team behind the web-series, Apoorv Singh Karki and Deepesh Sumitra Jagdish, have managed to direct and write, respectively, pristine narratives around the characters of Abhilash, Guri and SK. Naveen Kasturia, Shivankit Parihar and Abhilash Thapiliyal have truly managed to capture the essence of their characters through their portrayals. Even so, Namita Dubey and Sunny Hinduja have managed to ingratiate themselves with the audience with their outstanding performances. Of course, due credit must also be given to the creators of the web-series, Arunabh Kumar, the founder of TVF and Shreyansh Pandey.

Of course, we all saw the cast and the creative team, behind TVF’s Aspirants, drop the teaser for the season finale during the ‘Covid Relief Livestream‘, that was held in association with The Talented Indian. An immensely important initiative, the entire livestream was a reminder for the need to reach out and help as much as possible in times like these.

I know we are all excited and really want some answers from the season finale. What really happened between Guri and Abhilash all those years back? Did it have something to do with Dhairya all along? And, most importantly, did Abhilash really clear the preliminary exam at the end of episode 4? In the hopes of getting you all up to speed for the finale, let’s do a brief recap of everything that has happened so far.

Episode One introduces us to the three friends that we have come to love. Abhilash, Guri and SK are long standing friends who are all preparing for the UPSC examinations. With the exams looming ahead of them, Abhilash, on his final attempt, wants to change his optional subject. The crux of the episode takes Abhilash’s indecision on choosing an optional subject and spins a larger tale on the idea of being able to stand and make decisions on your own two feet

Episode Two has Abhilash questioning himself about the qualifications of a teacher. For him, the primary concern lies in the uncertainty of whether an individual, who, himself, hasn’t managed to clear the UPSC exam, can provide him with the right guidance. The second episode also introduces us to the character of Dhairya, the primary bone of contention and the reason behind the added strain in the friendship between Abhilash and Guri in the present day. 

Up until now, TVF’s Aspirants has been exploring the primary concerns that most UPSC aspirants face. In the third episode, the web-series delves into more cerebral themes, posing questions towards the qualities that are not only mandatory for bureaucrats to possess but also important in our daily lives. What really separates the wheat from the chaff? On a more romantic one, Abhilash and Dhairya are a thing now, with the both of them finding an understanding in each other. Episode three also has the three friends finally meeting again in the present day, with Guri bracing himself to finally tell Abhilash who he is actually getting married to.

The penultimate episode of the series focuses on everything coming to a head. In the present day, Abhilash and Guri, finally, open up about the things eating at them and confront each other, while SK reveals his frustration towards both of his friends, touching upon how they have always been caught up in their own angst and almost always avoided focusing on the larger friendship that exists between the three of them. Back in the past, we get a glimpse of Abhilash deciding to finally resign from his job, the one he had taken a sabbatical from to prepare for the UPSC exam. We also see the first cracks that begin to form between Abhilash and Dhairya. The episode ends on a real cliffhanger, with Abhilash clearing his preliminary exam being left ambiguous.

And the season finale episode TVF’s Aspirants is a real treat with a culmination of all the emotions. From the heartfelt message of Sandeep bhaiya to Abhilash’s realisation to his final monologue. Instead of describing it in words, let your visual senses give you an emotional treat. Cheers to a beautiful and inspiring finale!

Relationships are one of the hardest things to maintain. Be it family, friends or significant others, it is almost impossible to be harmonious all the time. And it takes a lot of effort to make any relationship a successful one. But on what basis do we call it successful? Trust, number of fights, empathy? I say it is the quality of friendship. Yes, friendship is the common denominator in all relationships. Almost like a measuring unit of it. 

Of course, being ex-lovers adds some awkward hurdles in the path to friendship but that never means that it can’t exist. And it exists beautifully in ‘when you meet your ex’ a three-episode Youtube Series whose final instalment released this year. Produced by RVCJ, this series is the perfect balance between warmth and emotion. Ashwin Salunke, the Executive Producer at RVCJ, stated, “Being an emotional person I have always been excited to be a part of such heart touching concepts. I am glad that our team has done full justice to each and every word, emotion & feelings which writer had put in the script!

A lovely blend of dialogue and music makes it an amazing watch. I must say, the dialogue supported by some phenomenal acting from Shreya Gupto and Ayush Mehra take all the spotlight. “The series has so much depth,  maturity,  confusion, trouble and probably every kind of hard emotion. As an actor, it’s always interesting to get into the skin of such emotions,” recalls Shreya.

It only goes on to show that circumstances may keep people apart but feelings never die. There is a beautiful set of dialogues in the second episode where the characters compare feelings to radioactive decay. The conversational nature of the series also adds immensely to the depth of each character.

The episodes!

Episode 1 starts off with the two ex-lovers meeting up after a very long time. It has a natural sense of awkwardness with some taunts thrown the other person’s way. But the maturity of the ending and the overall conversation makes it a really peaceful 16-minute watch!

Episode 2 takes place sometime after episode 1. And both the characters have evolved a lot separately and are now helping each other out as friends. They are not shy to mention the elephant in the room and work their way through all the tension and awkwardness. There’s some fantastic dialogue coming your way too.

The final instalment is an excellent wrap up to the entire story. And it features superb music from Rohan Pradhan and Rohan Ghokale, it is nostalgic, touching and very emotional. This series will surely help all those who have been heartbroken in love, to finally get some closure and move on happily with their lives.

Writer Sajal Kumar says, “The series is about closure and catharsis. In a relationship with a lot of love and emotional investment, things can still go wrong, and making peace with it is an emotional reality that a lot of people have lived. But this is one scenario that has hardly been explored in our mainstream stories, and this was one such attempt.”

“The Series is so well written and executed that it required a perfect balance of emotion and warmth with a melodious soundtrack”, recalls Rohan Pradhan and Rohan Gokhale, the musical duo for this project. Huge credits to RVCJ media for incubating such amazing talent and showing it to the world! We can’t wait for what’s to come!

With increasing awareness regarding feminism, it is important to raise awareness regarding the basic ideology that fuels discrimination between men and women. It is important to address the root causes which lead to female exploitation and to trace back its beginnings, we need to question one’s grooming as a child, starting primarily from the house. Aisi Hun, by Sejal Kumar, is an informational as well as an inspiring song which sheds light on the same.

In her first ever original song, Sejal tells the tale of an ordinary Indian girl being brought up in a middle-class household. The problems highlighted in this video are not individualistic, rather represent the issues faced by the women community as a whole. Through the journey of this girl, it caters to trivial day to day occurrences like hiding sanitary pads in presence of a male member of the family, parents shying away from providing their kids basic sex education, imposing clothe restrictions and male interactions. At the same time, it also deals with how ignorant and reckless men are when it comes to dealing with unwanted pregnancies. The way they abandon women in times of need and fail to take responsibility for something they equally partook in highlights the faultiness in their upbringing. Matters catering to feminism can not just be solved by women alone. Equal participation of men is of vital importance and so is parental support in such cases.

It is the parents who can inculcate in their boys the basic ideology of respecting women and redefine what “being a man” means. At the same time, they should raise their girls to be strong and confident, and at the same time infuse in them equality and the will to fight for their rights. Aisi hu is a part of Creators for Change, a global movement for girls’ education with Michelle Obama.