The short film, Signature offers a poignant analysis of the various challenges and complexities experienced by Lata, a widow, as she navigates the aftermath of her husband’s passing and her determined pursuit to educate her daughter. Directed by Ankit Agrawal, this impactful work delves deeply into the intricate emotional and societal dynamics that shape Lata’s journey. The film’s narrative provides a compelling and insightful portrayal of the struggles and resilience of a widow as she strives to create a brighter future for her child through the transformative power of education, despite the various societal and cultural barriers she must overcome.

Plot

The film opens with Lata (Pratibha Vishwakarma) sitting in front of a wall that prohibits sitting. She then goes to pick up her daughter, Yashwi (Arya Chaudhari), from school. At home, Yashwi innocently asks Lata about the difference between a pen and a pencil, but Lata avoids the question, redirecting Yashwi to ask her teacher instead. Lata, who is a widow, is shown to be struggling to make Yashwi a successful and educated girl, despite her own inadequacies. She sews and stitches clothes for their daily living, often working long hours to provide for her daughter.

The narrative then shifts to Lata receiving a letter that she hesitates to read, revealing to the audience that she is likely illiterate. Yashwi, unaware of her mother’s struggle, cannot comprehend Lata’s atypical behavior, such as using a thumb print rather than a signature when visiting the bank to read a pension letter or when signing Yashwi’s school marksheet. This prompts judgmental remarks from other students, which deeply wounds Lata’s self-confidence. Determined to improve her situation, Lata endeavors to educate herself, with Yashwi’s gradual understanding and support. Despite the challenges, Lata’s unwavering commitment to making Yashwi a successful and educated girl shines through, a testament to her resilience in the face of societal prejudices and patriarchal constraints.

Signature: Discussion

The film shows how traditional norms and societal biases against widows have hurt Lata’s confidence and limited her education. It explores the challenges widows face in Indian society through Lata, who must navigate life alone after her husband’s passing. The fact that she can get a pension is good news for Lata, as it provides some financial stability during this difficult time. However, the film gently touches on the deeper difficulties widows in India face due to deep-rooted patriarchal structures that often leave them marginalized and without support.

Overcoming these challenges takes great strength, determination, and support from loved ones. Lata’s story is a poignant reminder of the transformative power of education and the need to break down the systemic barriers preventing women, especially widows, from accessing educational opportunities. The film also looks at the family dynamics as Lata strives to provide a better future for her daughter Yashwi through education. Lata’s unwavering commitment to Yashwi’s education reflects her desire to end the cycle of oppression and ensure her daughter has the opportunities she was denied, in the hopes of creating a more equitable future.

Click here to watch the movie : Signature Short Film

Languages are man-made. If a certain group of people have an idea about certain sounds and associate it with some meaning, a language is invented. The invention of a language may be due to practical reasons for communication, but once it comes in contact with people and culture, it transcends beyond just communication. As humans, we have a habit of giving meaning to everything around us, and hence language is no different. But what happens when a culture begins to forget the value of its language? That’s exactly what the short film Byaase Sunucha tries to capture.

Byaase Sunucha: A Closer Look

Written and directed by Sidharth Goutam, the setting of the film Byaase Sunucha is pretty simple. In fact, the entire film starts and ends on the pavement next to a painting of the pioneer of Odia literature Byaasakabi Fakir Mohan Senapati. In the film Byaase Sunucha, an anonymous artist played by well-known Odia actor Dipanwit Dashmohapatra creates the picture of Fakir Mohan Senapati on a wall next to the pavement and begins his lament about the loss of identity of Odia language.

Starting off, Byaase Sunucha may seem like a regular film where an artist is lamenting the death of a language and culture. But it’s only when you pay close attention to the words and the argument that you realise that this lament goes beyond an artist’s aspiration to be recognised. It captures the anxiety that any modern Odia person may grapple with over the loss of their language and cultural identity. It’s the anxiety that every Odia faces about their culture, especially when they are exposed to another culture and forced to assimilate into the other culture to blend in. The film delves much deeper than the worries of a hungry artist.

What stands out the most about the film is the way the dialogues are delivered with such emphasis by Dipanwit Dashmohapatra that they are bound to ring in your ears hours after the film has ended. Also, the way the actor makes use of the location and the movements of passersby adds to the gravity of the situation. It highlights the director’s and actor’s brilliance in managing to make an unscripted moment look like a scripted one. The climax of the film is bound to hit home.

Afterword

Dealing with the anxiety over losing their Odia culture and language, Byaase Sunucha brings the pioneer of the Odia language to the debate table to defend his own language. But alas! Having left the language at the hands of his Odia descendants, the pedestal that Fakir Mohan Senapati had once created for his language, Odia is no longer in the same shiny, prestigious condition. The very fact that, as an Odia, I have to write about my beautiful language in English is a testament to the condition of the pedestal today that Fakir Mohan Senapati once created for his language. It’s a must-watch if you wish to learn about the rich history and current condition of the Odia language, which is deeply rooted in the Odia culture.

COVID-19, a time in the digital age of human history that brought the entire world to a standstill. Taking pride in our technological advancements and trying to come up with ways to make the world more efficient from coming up with faster learning to faster-eating techniques to ensure maximum efficiency of human resources. In 2020, at the peak of hustle culture came the biggest pandemic in the digital age that brought the world to a standstill. A pandemic that reminded people that staying at home is equally important. But what about them for whom the outside world was the escape as the home was equivalent to hell? It’s the tale of these domestic violence survivors that often goes unheard in the growing anxiety over the virus, and the short film Ek Chup brings exactly that to light.

Ek Chup: A Closer Look

Directed by Sonya V. Kapoor, Ek Chup tells the story of the thousand unheard and silenced voices due to domestic violence all across the world especially during the pandemic. Starring Mona Singh, the film, Ek Chup perfectly captures the growing anxiety because of the uncertainty surrounding the the virus mingled with the daily anxiety one feels around the perpetrator of domestic violence. 

The plot of Ek Chup works brilliantly to convey the message that a perpetrator is a perpetrator regardless of his educational qualifications and literacy level. The misconception that it’s only the poor and the illiterate that often unleash violence upon their spouses is beautifully contradicted by the film. Ek Chup also subtly highlights the pressure that the doctors went through during the pandemic to keep up with the increasing number of patients. But by making both the perpetrator and the victim of domestic violence doctors, the film also hints at the fact that work pressure because of the pandemic is not an excuse to be violent, especially in a domestic space that is considered a space for respite. 

The biggest plot point that makes the entire film a masterpiece is the continuous focus on the phrase “Ek Chup, Sau Sukh” (Silence is Golden). From gestures to continuous reminders to posters around the house, Ek Chup as a film ensured that the film’s main idea was understood and rather ingrained in the viewers’ minds. The ending of the film plays a huge role in making the film a masterpiece. However, it is worth pointing out that the idea that it was set during the time of the pandemic needed to be conveyed better as there were instances where the COVID-19 protocols were broken during certain plot points like towards the end which sort of took away from the core idea which was domestic violence at the time of the pandemic. But otherwise, it is a rather well-written and executed film.

Afterword

In this post-pandemic era where we are trying our best to return to a “normal” life, Ek Chup acts as a reminder that let’s not normalise everything and take a vow of silence when raising our voice is the need of the hour. Silence may be golden, but not when it comes at the cost of one’s basic right to live with dignity as then gold is nothing but a shiny metal that is worthless as there will be no humans left to attach value to it.

Girls are often considered a liability in a family. Hence it was a common practice in India to get rid of them before they were born. The practice of female foeticide and female infanticide was so rampant that the government had to intervene and create strict laws that prohibited the practice of revealing the sex of the child before it’s born to ensure that each child gets a good chance of living a good life regardless of their sex. Though killing a child was no longer an option many parents who still think of their daughter as a liability try to reduce their burden by selling them off as young brides for older men to exploit. And because of how intricately this system is rooted and hidden it is not possible to weed it out that easily. But we can always draw people’s attention to it to let them know that such an evil exists and needs our help to weed it out completely. And that’s exactly what the short film Paath teaches us.

Paath: A Closer Look

Written and directed by Karan Singh Rathore, Paath tells the story of a man (Ramvilas) in his 30s who gets infatuated with a 12-year-old girl (Kamli) and tries his best to buy her from her bidding father by being the highest bidder. But fate takes a turn and instead, a 50-year-old widow (Kesar) becomes the highest bidder. Being a sore loser Ramvilas hates the fact that he lost the bid but only later comes to realise how dumb he truly was. 

Paath literally translates to “lesson” in Hindi. And the film captures this essence beautifully. The lesson or paath in life that Ramvilas learnt is bound to stay with him forever. Paath is a film about life lessons that may seem common but many have never received them. The film Paath also brings to light the notion that sometimes your true parents may not be your biological parents. Sometimes it’s an outsider who takes more care of you than your parents.

The film Paath was entirely shot in a rural setting which keeps the storyline and the “lesson” simple yet rustic. More than the “lesson” it is the way it is conveyed that’s what captures a viewer’s eye. By keeping things fun and humorous the filmmakers managed to make the viewers understand how normalised these practices have become that we choose to just laugh at them rather than doing anything about them.

Afterword

Complete with a star-studded cast consisting of, Jackie Shroff, Sara Arjun, Abhilash Thapliyal, and Rajkumar Kanojia, a beautiful execution of emotions via acting in the film was given. But the best part about the film is the way the whole “paath” was divided into five chapters or lessons to add more context to the visual depiction of such a serious case. Paath is bound to leave an even bigger impact than an emotionally driven film. It’s simple and to the point and clearly conveys why it’s titled Paath.

When we hear that somebody is suffering from mental illness what’s the first thought that comes to our mind? If mental illness has anything to do with memory impairment then the thought that they are not reliable is bound to cross our mind. But it so happens that even in that state of obliviousness they sometimes remember the most essential thing in their life. These are things that even the most sane person sometimes seems to forget. And that’s the beauty, the short film, The Broken Table, tries to capture.

The Broken Table: A Closer Look

What’s broken should be thrown out right? But that’s exactly what The Broken Table tells you to rethink. Directed by Chintan Sarda with a star-studded cast consisting of Naseeruddin Shah and Rashika Dugal, the film will make you remember the things that you have forgotten over the years as a result of keeping pace with the fast-changing world. 

The setting for the film The Broken Table is pretty simple, a caregiver (Deepti) is asked to look after an old man (Giri) suffering from Alzheimer’s as the family has to be away to attend a wedding. It is during these few days that Deepti starts seeing the world in a different light. And no unlike various films dedicated to mental health awareness, Deepti doesn’t exactly see the world from the point of view of someone who has Alzheimer’s but rather she sees her world from her point of view, without any fog of doubt or misunderstanding with a little help from Giri of course. In the film, though Giri may seem to have trouble remembering certain details, he never forgets the most important ones such as rule no.1 of love. (Curious? Watch the film below!).

From the acting to the direction, The Broken Table is a visual masterpiece. Each scene is shot in such a way that it maintains an air of mystery and melancholy until everything is revealed in the end. The way the actors convey the emotions and the way the scenes are executed give them an air of relatability to anyone watching from any corner of the world, which is bound to make this film a success.

Afterword

The Broken Table will force you to take a step back from the world and just breathe for a moment. The film is a hearty mix of beautiful and soulful. Though it may initially bring you down a bit watch out for the ending to feel the warm happy feeling spread out across your heart. If you want a quick serotonin boost or are confused about how to go about certain things in life, give this film a watch.