26th Madurai Film Festival 2024 : Selected Indian Short Fiction

26th Madurai International Documentary and Short Film Festival 2024

6-10 December, multiple venues, Madurai 


Category : Indian Short fiction

Name: A Place of Rest
Dir: Prakhar Agnihotri; 16:48 min; Short fiction; India 
Synopsis: Pursuing his dreams of becoming a Bollywood actor, Vivaan battles rejections, reality & fading hope. 

Name: On-Probation 
Dir: Samuel Paul; 15:44 min; Short fiction; India 
Synopsis: Abi (21, Male)’s journey as an on-probation janitor creates a self-doubt, whether he has to continue or leave the job to preserve his dignity. 

Name: BLUE 
Dir: PRAVEEN KUMAR NAGENDRAN; 11:43 min; Short fiction; India 
Synopsis: A young boy convinces a fisherman to take him to the sea. Once into the sea, the boy discloses his true plan, driving the fisherman into anger, wondering whether the boy had succeeded in carrying out his plan or not. 

Name: Another - 
Dir: Niranjan Damodaran; 8:52 min; Short fiction; India 
Synopsis: How caste practices are still practiced without them knowing they're doing it; 
How seemingly innocuous practices can break relationships 

Name: Rasam 
Dir: Prerana Bangalore Gopala Krishna; 12:24 min; Short fiction; India 
Synopsis: Rasam (Broth) encapsulates the life of Eka, a modern day urban woman - a victim of patriarchy and abuse by her chauvinistic husband. A turn of events, motivates Eka to set herself free from the clutches of the patriarchy and shackles of marriage while choosing the Rasas (emotions) of her life on the auspicious day of Navratri - the same day that Goddess Durga won over the demon. 

Name: Punal 
Dir: Arun Kumar; 17:59 min; Short fiction; India 
Synopsis: Tilaga, 30, works as a maid occasionally, but primarily in Shanthi's (40) home. She cleans Shanthi's house, doing tasks like sweeping and mopping. Tilaga and Shanthi appear to have a cordial relationship up until Tilaga feels the need to urinate. Tilaga tries to contain it at first, but as the need to urinate grows, she becomes reluctant to ask Shanthi to let her use the bathroom. Before Tilaga sees a delivery boy asking Shanthi to use the restroom, Tilaga musters the guts to ask her to do so. 

Tilaga asks, and Shanthi directs her to a bathroom on the terrace. Tilaga discovers that the restroom is undergoing restoration on the terrace. She returns, notifies Shanthi, and politely requests permission to use her restroom,Shanthi refuses. Tilaga manages to contain her need until she walks the entire way home and unwinds after using the bathroom. 

Name: Rickshaw 
Dir: Nikesh Vasantrao Sontakke; 11:00 min; Short fiction; India 
Synopsis: The short film "Rickshaw" is based on a real situation. With the advent of new technology, the culture of cycle rickshaws is gradually disappearing. This film has been made with the intent to shed light on the difficult circumstances faced by rickshaw drivers. 

Name: Pink Nights 
Dir: Aasa Asok; 13:39 min; Short fiction; India 
Synopsis: A happy couple. One night of freedom. As the wife is out on a girls' night, restraints are broken and the hidden cost of their happiness emerges. Only to vanish into the shadows the next morning. 

Name: Why? 
Dir: Arjun Vijayakumaran; 18:08 min; Short fiction; India 

Name: KAASH (IF ONLY) 
Dir: Dane Ross; 15:00 min; Short fiction; India 
Synopsis: Kaash (If Only) :This film centres around a 9 year old boy named Bablu, who is born into a working class family and works with his uncle in a dhaba (a road side food stall) he dreams of playing football like any other kid of his age, but are all dreams meant to come true? 

Name: Sweet Moon 
Dir: Mayur Prakash Kulkarni; 14:30 min; Short fiction; India 
Synopsis: An aesthetically driven experiment exploring the melancholy of life through space and time. 

Name: Desmond & Molly 
Dir: Tharun; 4:02 min; Short fiction; India 
Synopsis: A man and a woman at a sutta shop. 

Name: Birth of Men 
Dir: Dhanush J Sankaranarayanan; 8:11 min; Short fiction; India 
Synopsis: In the merciless grip of a ragging ritual, a med student's ambitions crumble, exposing the dark reality of drug addiction and the ragging culture festering within the Indian student community. 
Name: Another Her Beneath the Sea 

Name: A Night, After All 
Dir: Anshul Agrawal; 14:58; Short fiction; India 
Synopsis: A retired couple, one sleepless night, a game played, a question asked, a decision pending and a life hanging. Is it right to sacrifice everything? Is it wrong to not do the same? Can a caregiver be tired of giving? 

Name: JASWANDA 
Dir: Shoneel Yallattikar; 13:50 min; Short fiction; India 
Synopsis: The film journeys through the day in the life of a retired couple in their 70s. The woman - 
seemingly stereotypical, but with a mind of her own; the man - much less hypocritical than others of the same generation. The story explores their interpersonal dynamics, their small world through their lens, interspersed with the dichotomy of melancholy and hope that the arrival of monsoon brings. 

Name: Tumi Robe Nirobe 
Dir: Benu Bina Banik; 14:05 min; Short fiction; India 
Synopsis: Present day, a small town in Bengal. The film charts the life of the women of a Bengali joint family, by following a day in their lives. They toil whole day to care for the family and run the household. 
Are they happy? Will they always remain faceless? Will they ever protest? 

Name: Cup Of Tea 
Dir: Rohan Arun Todkar; 17:33 min; Short fiction; India 
Synopsis: A story of the day of housewarming ceremony in an upper middle class Indian urban family where, while enjoying a cup of tea post the ceremony; an act of gratitude by the maid of the house makes the owner of the house introspect and get face to face with subtle discrimination buried deep within her in form of pseudo status quo. 

Name: AABARU 
Dir: Nirmiti Kewal Jiwantare; 13:27 min; Short fiction; India 
Synopsis: A CHILD IS GOING THROUGH A TRAUMA BECAUSE OF HIS MOTHER'S PHYSICAL RELATION WITH ANOTHER MAN. HE CARRIES THAT TRAUMA TILL HIS WHOLE LIFE. 

Name: Nethi 
Dir: Roy Karakkatt Capuchin; 13:01 min; Short fiction; India 
Synopsis: The Sanskrit usage ‘NETHI - NETHI’ means ‘not this – not that.’ The short movie ‘NETHI' depicts the tale of an ultra-selfish individual, inspired by his mad desires. Obsessed with furthering his agenda, he raises a specific breed with the ambition of world domination, firmly convinced of their superiority. Driven by fear of competition, particularly from his brother's sole produce, he dismisses the warnings of his conscience and disregards the pleas of his mother, wife, and daughter. Ultimately, he commits the grievous act of destroying his brother's cherished produce. It is only then that he awakens to the realisation that in place of his brother's dearest, he had fallen his precious one. Despite this revelation, the remains obstinate in his refusal to acknowledge the truth. 

Name: The Insistent Urge of The Wind. 
Dir: Neil Bera, Abdul Rahman; 10:56 min; Short fiction; India 
Synopsis: A poet turned wife, Iqra finds herself ensnared within the norms of her orthodox Islamic family. The mounting pressure from her father to fulfill the expectation of providing both families with a child becomes unbearable. Faced with the suffocating constraints, she yearns to escape and regain her freedom. One day, life takes a turn when Iqra discovers her own pregnancy. However, this revelation becomes a closely guarded secret, shared only with her loving younger brother Aadil. As the weight of this truth divides, a sudden tragedy strikes – her husband passes away. In the midst of grief, she is compelled to reconsider her yearning for freedom. 

Name: The Way Back home 
Dir: Sandeep Kumar Paul; 14:40 min; Short fiction; India 
Synopsis: Two young girls from the northeastern part of India relocate to a metropolis to take up job at a restobar. They become the witnesses of ugly racial behavior from local people when both of them are harassed and accused of things with which they have no connection when returning home from work late in the evening.  

Name: Reminiscence
Dir: Anup Kumar Chakraborty; 17:30 min; Short fiction; India 
Synopsis: The film is based on the directior's childhood nostalgia for the flawless and continuous song played by a blind flute player in his area the child wants to know the magic behind it persuade him to follow this blind man when ever sees him. His music had an enchanting power to bind him to listen to this blind man flute playing with atnoshingly the directior's childhood character is finely played by our child artist.

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