A viewer should go to Gadhedo unprepared and unsuspecting and allow themselves to be impressed and entertained by a wonderful short film. The story is of a small village where the local teacher lounges and relaxes at the cost of his pupils' education. As Monday becomes 'Monde' and week becomes 'weak', it is not hard to determine the direction his students are headed in. Add to all this his eccentric, witless landlord, and the drama of the film unfolds in the most unpredictable and engaging manner. The film is unique and refreshing in the style it adopts to tell its story, a folk tale, as it states at the start. It has several moments of brilliance as the viewer tries to pin it down to a genre - comedy, drama, thriller? What happens when a simpleton decides to pay a huge sum to his devious tenant to turn his donkey into a human? The consequences are hilarious, surprising and saddening - all at the same time, allowing Gadhedo to be a skilled and sophisticated piece of art.

Gadhedo | Vikrant Massey | Short Film of the Day

Manorath, which translates to desire or heart's hope, is a lovely, quiet story about an overlap of urban and rural sensibilities, the fleeting moment when they seem to have reached a common plane and the swift shattering of this space. The storytelling adopted to communicate the thought is not one marked by garishness or loud devices. Instead, in the same vein as that of a soulful Rabindranath Tagore narrative, for it is indeed The Postmaster by him that serves as the inspiration for the short film, it conveys its intentions and motivations. When a photographer visits a village for a work project, he finds himself striking an unlikely friendship with a ten-year-old girl. The latter helps the former make some sense of a territory formerly unknown to him where the only pass-time available is to visit a nearby river. However, despite his sleek gadgets and experiences of a city-life, he is unable to grasp how little these things mean for a girl who only seeks friendship and affection, and not any material gains he might secure for her. The film is notably lucid in conveying the same, leaving no doubt in the viewer's mind about its core message, in the process, allowing itself to be a successful final result.

Manorath | Short Film of the Day

The film opens with a mellow scene of a grandfather teaching a child about the values that shaped and built the life he leads now in a village of Maharashtra. The story then progresses to introduce the viewer to the child’s father, Namya. 

As each character is gradually introduced, a story develops with a conflict at its heart that is becoming increasingly common in our contemporary reality. Builders from Pune want to acquire more and more agricultural land, often by pressuring and arm-twisting the local farmers, and turn the fields into buildings of cement and concrete. 

By portraying two father-son equations, of Tatya and Ganga, and Namya and his Appa, the film explores the many anxieties and tensions that define this situation. The performances remain steadfast throughout, alongside skilled visuals that bring these ideas and relationships to life. The story further ropes in drama, punctuated with a little humor every now and then, to share all of this with audiences, finally concluding with an important social message.

Varasa | Spotlight

The thematic preoccupation of the narrative is something small and mundane, and yet, for the characters involved, it is an issue of extreme importance. That perhaps is how life is constituted too, by small moments that may seem trivial in the larger scheme of things, but it is precisely these moments that come to define and comprise our lived reality. The narrative locates itself in a rural pocket of the country where, one day, some catfish is captured for food by a man and shared with those around him. However, the activity is not as simple as it sounds, and soon becomes a topic of great discussion as well as derision by the rest of the community. The film offers a convincing and authentic glimpse into the daily affairs of the village, and the several social equations within which they come to take form. The storytelling exhibits potential, even though the cinematography could have gained from a little more stability in the visuals. Overall, however, the film remains a notable attempt at sharing its story and intentions with the audience.

The Catfish | Short Film Nominee

After graduating from a premier institution in 2017, Amogh Sahaje chose to embark upon the road less taken. He
decided to travel, and live in a village, a community of “tribals”, untouched by modern technology.
Alternism documents brief excerpts from a conversation with Amogh about his experiences. 
Without using academic jargon or clichés, or even a dominant model of relativism which places the
European ideals of Enlightenment as the basis of all knowledge, Amogh narrates his observations of
the mode of working and functioning of this particular set of people. Through anecdotes and reflections, he paints a
picture of a community
which may seem “primitive” to the imperialistic, corporate-oriented development model, but is self-sustaining and growing in its own time, by its own standards.

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