Shweta Basu Prasad’s Digital Playlist: Shunyata starring Jackie Shroff will force you to think

The formative years of a person is between 12-20, they say. During this period kids are most impressionable, hence making wrong and seldom right decisions, without a guardian. To have a friend, a guardian, a confidant who can hold the little finger and walk together.

This week I recommend Jackie Shroff starrer 22 minute short film Shunyata (the void) available on YouTube.

The film starts with Madhur (Jackie Shroff) murdering, what looks like a high profile contact in the parking lot of a building. The first 6 minutes establish Madhur as a contract killer, who works for his boss Bhau. His only source of happiness is when he meets Tinu (Machindra Gadkar) a 16-17 year old boy who sells tea and cigarettes on empty Mumbai streets and does some part time drug hustling. Tinu is looking for a man who killed his mother. He keeps visiting the police station for any update on that killer. But each time he is sent away with an insult.

Madhur and Tinu share a special friendship. Madhur who never had his own father to guide him and explain bad from good, sees himself in Tinu and tries his best to keep him away from the phantoms of the dark world. Their conversations is the best take away from the short film. Shot only at night in the hollow streets of Mumbai by Arkodeb Mukherjee does full justice to the story. Departments of sound design, music and edit also get top marks. Chintan Sarda’s (director, writer and co-producer) tells the story honestly. He makes full use of long shots to establish the state of mind the characters are in. No unnecessary dialogues are used where it’s not required. To leave the frame just for the actors as their characters is bold and impressive. Jackie Shroff as Madhur is fantastic! He gets into the skin of his character effortlessly and pays attention to the small details to make his character come alive. So good to see him in a short film. Machindra Gadkar as Tinu surprises you with his performance and acts like a veteran alongside Jaggu Dada.

The film is available on Large Short Films’ channel on YouTube. Large short film which has become India’s premier channel for the best short films, yet again brings a wonderful short Shunyata. The short film is reviewed highly by Film companion and scoop whoop.

Next time you meet a kid on street, give him or her a piece of advice that you wish, you had received at their age.

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(Shweta Basu Prasad is a national award winning actor, famed for Makdee, Iqbal and television show Chandra Nandini. Shweta is a graduate in mass media and journalism.)