Shorts B

Chor

Cast: Ramakant Daayama, Neha Bam, Vishal Nath, Hansika Jangid

Language: Hindi

Length: 12 minutes 59 seconds

Year Of The Film: 2023

Premiere status: International Premiere

Synopsis:

On his way to work, an old man encounters a young and carefree individual who strikes a conversation with him. Little does he know, the young individual is a pickpocket looking to make his daily score. Will the old man be his next victim or will good prevail over evil?

Director's Biography:

Ayush Anita Sharma

Ayush Anita Sharma was raised in Delhi, India and has spent the last 10 years in the Indian film industry(Mumbai) working as a Creative director/Associate director across numerous projects. Currently working on his second directorial short film, he also works as a freelance director and is writing a screenplay for a feature film based on the heroic contributions of the Indian army Canine dog units.

Happy Bithday

Cast: Ketaki Kulkarni, Shaunak Chandorkar

Language: Marathi

Length: 20 minutes 26 seconds

Year Of The Film: 2023

Synopsis:

Overwhelmed by the prospect of post-marital intimacy, she voices her insecurities about her body and her inexperience to her best friend, Manju. The fact that Arun has been in a relationship before while she hasn’t worsens her angst. Manju shows Anu a web article on ways to have smooth sexual intercourse. However, Anu gets herself in a pickle when instead of posting a Happy Birthday message on her fiancé’s Facebook wall, she accidentally posts a portion of this article on it for a brief while. Consumed by worry and embarrassment, she confesses this incident to her conservative parents. Her parents fear that Arun’s family might not take it well and cancel the marriage. The next morning Arun and his family visit Anu’s family. Their interactions convey their cluelessness about the previous day’s incident. Although ultimately, when Arun asks Anu if she’d like to attend a new couple’s sexual counseling session with him, Anu realizes that Arun has not only seen the message, but understands her insecurities and wants to be there for her. Anu gains confidence that their union can indeed blossom.

Identity

Director: Suraj Gunjal

Cast: Anjali Patil, Palomi Ghosh, Rahul Bagga, Abhishekh Jha

Language: Hindi

Length: 23 minutes 15 seconds

Year Of The Film: 2023

Synopsis:

A poor single parent Housemaid fakes her identity to get work, this creates misunderstanding between the family who blindly trusted her.

Director: Suraj Gunjal

Suraj Gunjal, a Software Engineer turned Filmmaker. Precisely a Film Editor & Director.Suraj started his filmmaking career with editing by assisting renowned film editors & being a part of their critically acclaimed films. During his early days he also worked as an on set editor, continuity supervisor & associate editor. A Pakistani feature film ' Pinky Memsaab', was his first break as an independent Editor. Later he has edited a few feature films like 'Aye Zindagi', 'Minimum', 'Bhagwan Bharose' & also worked on some notable shorts. While working with such renowned artists around, the interest for the art of storytelling emerged in him too, thus came into being a beautiful documentary film named "Aakhri safar"(The last journey). This first documentary film of his is based on the life of a Coffin maker, which was nominated and also won awards at New York Indian Film Festival(NYIFF) , International Documentary and Short Film Festival of Kerala (IDSFFK). He also conducts master-class in film editing for aspiring editors. "Naam ( Identity)" being his first short fiction, is ready to win international acclamations. Suraj is all set to bring forth his first Feature Film.

Khidki

Cast: Naseeruddin Shah, Asha Naithani Dayama, Brij Bhushan Shukla, Chandan Vicky Rai

Vivan Karan Singh

Language: Hindi

Length: 26 minutes 26 seconds

Year Of The Film: 2023

Synopsis:

An elderly man's tranquil existence is upended when faced with eviction from his cherished apartment, his only solace being the connection to the outside world through his window.

Soluchan (Solution)

Cast: Farhaan Shah, Delzad Sanjay Hiwale, Saajan Kumar, Snehlata, Brijesh Kumar

Language: Hindi

Length: 13 minutes 48 seconds

Year Of The Film: 2023

Premiere status: Word premiere

Synopsis:

AA homeless boy, Vijju, battles withdrawal on Diwali, the festival of lights, while desperately searching for his fix on the streets of Mumbai. His harrowing struggle leads to a heartwarming moment, illuminating the darkness of his reality.

Director: Umesh Vinayak Kulkarni

Cast: Shweta Basu Prasad, Arjun Radhakrishnan, Dr. Mohan Agashe

Year Of The Film: 2023

Language: Hindi

Length: 27 minutes

Premiere status: NYIFF Premiere

Synopsis:

They seem to know each other like the back of their hands. Yet, there is something awkward about their relationship. Nikita finds even the most innocent of touches by Neeraj to be so repulsive.

Aniket, her colleague, has proposed to her and she is seriously considering it. Yet, she can’t let go of Neeraj.

Why does she seem stuck between a rock and a hard place? What’s the matter with Neeraj? Is it some deficiency, disability or a disease? It would need a silver bullet to get them together. What if the silver bullet already exists, just that they don’t know of it?

Director's Biography:

Umesh Vinayak Kulkarni

Umesh Vinayak Kulkarni is an alumnus of the Film and Television Institute of India. He graduated from the film school in the year of 2004. He has made 8 short films and 4 feature films so far. He is considered one of the most important contemporary voices in Indian cinema. His short fiction film titled “Girni” (Grinding Machine) won several International and National level awards including 3 National awards for the best short film and the president's gold medal

for best direction, the highest honor in India.

Umesh has kept his love and passion for short films alive. His each short film has been screened in more than 10 international film festivals including the prestigious Clermont Ferrand, Rotterdam, and Oberhausen. His short film “Three of Us” premiered in the Berlinale Film Festival.

He has been invited as jury in most prominent festivals like Clermont Ferrand which is considered the most impactful and influential short film festival in the world. Also, he has worked as an international jury in eminent festivals like Karlovy Vary Film Festival, Cairo Film Festival, Thai Film Festival, International Film Festival of Kerala. These festivals also conducted a retrospective of Umesh‟s short films.

He made his first feature film, “Valu” (The wild bull) in 2008. “Valu” turned out to be a significant film for Marathi cinema in many ways. It is amongst the few Marathi films that kept the box office collection on an upward swing and also traveled to more than 30 International film festivals. “Valu” is the first Marathi film which world premiered at the prestigious “Rotterdam International Film Festival”.

Umesh‟s second feature, “Vihir” (The Well) is the first Marathi film to be produced under Mr. Amitabh Bachchan‟s production house, AB Corp. Ltd. It also was the second Marathi film that was selected at the coveted Berlin International Film Festival.

“Deool” (Temple) is Umesh‟s third feature film. It won three National awards including the best feature film of the year.

Umesh’s fourth and his latest film, “Highway” was critically acclaimed for its representation of the cross-section of society through an ensemble cast. The film was screened in the New York Indian Film Festival.

Umesh has traveled extensively to present his films and to understand the way short films are perceived in different parts of the world.

In order to encourage young filmmakers to make quality short films of international standards, Umesh started conducting an extensive short film-making workshop which happens once in a year. This is the fourth year of the same and the response has been very positive from across our state. This workshop is designed specially to understand the nuances and finer details of short films as an independent medium.

Umesh runs a short film club in his hometown, Pune where short films made across the globe are screened. These films include classics and contemporary work as well. He also runs a children‟s film club which showcases acclaimed films for children and interaction with the makers.