At first glance, she seemed happy and content to serve the crowd in her living room full of loud, noisy men (her husband amongst them). Bring the snacks, fill the cooler with water, manage the kids, go back into the hot kitchen with no fan and continue to deal with the multiple demands from the ‘men of the house’. This is Shefali Shah in JUICE, a short movie on YouTube.
She plays the role of the housewife quite convincingly and if you’re a stay at home mom, you will relate to this movie immediately.
It had me interested from the beginning; everything seems realistic - Shefali without makeup, an average middle-class house and a dark, hot, stuffy kitchen filled with all the wives cooking, while the kids play in the bedroom and the men drink and stuff their faces with chicken tangdi (legs).
Then you have the young, pregnant couple (and I say a couple because ‘we are pregnant’ seems to be in), where the wife clearly has a superiority complex as per me, given that she slyly hands over a cracked steel glass to Shefali for the maid. This scene exposes the fact that we still possibly treat maids as people below us.
I liked the maid’s character - she has self- respect and an attitude which makes her refuse the tea.
Neeraj Ghaywan, the National Film award-winning director, has captured patriarchy beautifully in this short but hard-hitting film.
When one of the ladies tells her daughter Dolly to ‘give food to your brothers’, it reminded me of a close friend of mine. Growing up, her younger brother was treated like a prince while she was expected to serve him food and pick up his plate after he was done. Talk about teaching ‘em young!
The happy ending comes early, thankfully, when the housewife has had enough. I had just about started to feel really sorry for her.
2017 did not churn out too many blockbusters, at-least in Bollywood. Plus with ticket rates going sky high, I turned to watching short movies on YouTube which I believe made a bigger impact on me than any other so-called ‘blockbuster’.
Nayantara’s Necklace, starring one of my favourites, Konkona Sen Sharma makes one wonder about life and what’s important to us. A short, but intense movie about an unlikely friendship between two opposite personalities, it will have you hooked from beginning to end. Alka is the wife next door who leads a dull life with her husband and son in a city. Nayantara is the flamboyant one who travels to foreign countries, picks up unique pieces of jewellery, who says that everyone must visit Disneyland at least once and her son seems to be a pampered child, who gets what he wants.
Alka, played by Tillotama Shome, looks in awe at Nayantara and is so influenced by her lifestyle that she emulates her, wears her necklace and even says the same things that Nayantara has spoken about - when she goes on a date to meet her childhood crush. She pronounces chardonnay perfectly while placing an order on her dinner date.
Once she returns home though, she is shocked at what she sees and that’s where you realize that life isn’t all it’s made out to be.
‘Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned’ is the line that might come to your mind when you watch The Thought Of You, directed by Ahmed Roy. Starring Kalki Koechlin, Gulshan Devaiah and Monica Dogra, it’s a film with a twist. The movie revolves around three characters who seem to be having a good time - a young couple and a friend. The couple seems to have had trust issues in the past and Kalki plays the insecure, jealous wife perfectly possibly due to the fact that her husband has either cheated on her in the past or because she’s just terribly insecure that her tantrums might drive him away in the first place.
The movie has a gripping end, one which every woman will possibly understand in a dark way.
Although released in November 2016, Tisca Chopra’s maiden venture as a producer, Chutney, picked up steam in 2017. In it, Tisca looks shockingly different. You would not recognize her if you didn’t know it was her. She is unattractive, as per societal standards, can’t speak well and is married to a man who is rich and of a higher status than her.
Adil Hussain, who plays her husband in the film, flirts with another woman openly at a party who then, has the audacity to show up at her house. Tisca brings out the chutney which I think is a symbol for the spice in one’s mundane life. I was waiting for Tisca’s character to attack the woman but she offers her pakodas with a spicy chutney and starts narrating tales about the goings on in her family and household, all the while indirectly asserting her rights as the woman of the house.
The ending of the movie is almost like a revenge for the housewife who probably is just trying to save her marriage and status in society. The movie is real, the characters are real and will make you smile while at the same time give you chills at the secrets of the house.
A short film only has so much time to convey a message or to make an impact. And Born Free does just that. Scripted by Sandeep Balan and featuring Mukti Mohan and Sumeet Vyas, the movie inspired the bored, corporate professional in me. It is a story about unexpected inspiration drawn from unplanned circumstances.
Vanya is a blogger by profession living life as a free bird and when she meets Samarth, she changes his life around. Talk about the power of a woman! Riding high on success, Samarth doesn’t expect to find his true calling after meeting a woman. Vanya helps him discover himself and he is forced to rethink about what will make him truly happy.
A woman can make you or break you is a common belief and every person will be able to relate to this simple, yet powerful storyline.
Watch these movies while travelling, on a Sunday afternoon or even in your lunch break at work. After all, there’s never a bad time to watch the good stuff.
Have you seen any of these short movies? Would you recommend some more? Tell us in the comments below.