No surprises that Anurag Kashyap, who directed one of the shorts in the film, is now mentoring as well as co-producing five short films along with Viacom18.
A source says, `The Hindi film industry appears keen on experimenting with newer formats with a global outreach. The presence and engagement from the major studios is also a contributing factor. A foray into production and presentation of short format movies is nothing but encouraging.`
The five short films hinge on India as a core theme and the five filmmakers who are part of the project are Neeraj Ghaywan, Vasan Bala, Anubhuti Kashyap (who is Anurag's sister), Shlok Sharma and Gitanjali Rao.
Anurag explains, `I gathered these filmmakers and said we would like to make films on various aspects of India -- not typically a film that is touristy in nature, which tells you how beautiful India is but things that are quintessentially Indian.`
Ghaywan's The Epiphany follows the story of a divorced couple on a road trip. Bala's Geek Out deals with the subject of dual lives we lead. Anubhuti's Moi Marjaani is a story of a single mother in small town India who finds love on the Internet.
Sharma's Hidden Cricket connects the shades of a nation that simply loves cricket. And Rao's Chai showcases the view of rapid change that India is going through with the ubiquitous sip of tea.
On this particular genre, Bala has some thoughts to share, `Shorts defies the time lines set to tell stories that we've been conditioned with.`
