Abhiraj Bose and Sainee Raj penned down a beautiful story about two people in love. But this is not any ordinary love story written. Abhiraj and Sainee combine the fragile emotions of love, loss, hope and reunion into a 13 minute short film, all in a single space. Directed by Abhiraj Bose, the Interior Cafe Night brings to light amazing actors – Naseeruddin Shah, Shernaz Patel, Naveen Kasturia, Shweta Basu Prasad, with an even artistic short film.
Synopsis
The first scene of the Interior Cafe Night begins in a small, quaint, warm little cafe. We’re introduced to a man in his 50s, who enters the cafe, and stops short, as soon as he sees a woman. This woman, she has her back to him. The man recognises her instantly. In his eyes, we can immediately sense some longing, a flashback of beautiful memories, reminiscence, and the twinkles of happiness are visible in his eyes. Yes, that’s exactly how Naseeruddin Shah introduces his character. Just through his eyes, he delivers unspoken words. Brilliant acting, applaudable indeed! (to which we’ll soon get). We soon get to know that this man and the woman, played by Shernaz Patel, have known each other before, and are meeting after quite a long time.
Creating an atmosphere of reunion, Abhiraj Bose introduces one more scene opposite of it. A crying couple sits at the far end of the cafe, who’re about to be separated, by distance. It doesn’t take much time to realize that we are in fact witnessing the past and present happening simultaneously, next to each other. The current meetup of these 50 something aged man and woman is happening 30 years later! They were lovers, who were separated by destiny. Destiny rendered them helpless. Abhiraj Bose brings to light the question we all debate a lot on – can love beat the ravages of time? Interior Cafe Night is a beautiful take on this very debate, portrayed through a unique setup.
Looking Deep and Beyond
The actors bring to life the fragile emotions of love, longing, helplessness, and hope. Naveen Kasturia and Shweta Basu Prasad really summoned that bitter and heavy emotions two lovers would go through who are about to be separated by the ocean, by time, and will eventually be out of each other’s lives. The helplessness of these two lovers can be felt through the screen. Naseeruddin Shah’s acting has a loud presence in the film. His facial expressions, and the way he carries off his dialogues, is very honest and raw.
It’s also very beautiful and thought provoking how a specific place, like a cafe, could hold so many human emotions of love, wins, losses, hopelessness, etc. together at one place. The same place where love was broken off was also the same place where sparks of reconciliation and hope were reignited. Human beings are an accumulation of fragilities, and wherever we go, we sprinkle that specific place with it. Be it a restaurant, or a room, a corridor, a cafe, the interiors of them are witnesses to a plethora of human emotions.
Interior Cafe Night is an exquisite short film, and should definitely be on your ‘to watch’ list.
