SUNDAY HINDUSTA N TIMES, NEW D EL H I

APRIL 23, 2017 hindustantimes 13

A SHORT FILM IS A GREAT WAY TO CAPTURE
THE MOMENT, SAYS ACTOR KALKI
KOECHLIN. A WEB SHORT TYPICALLY TAKES
JUST TWO TO THREE DAYS TO SHOOT

the big story

TINY TALKIES
Why are so many Alist Bollywood actors and
directors taking to short films on the web? It lets them break
out of the mould, they say prove themselves in new genres,
play characters theyve never played before, say and do things
they would never be able to on the big screen
9

Madhusree Ghosh
n madhusree.ghosh@hindustantimes.com

60-year-old Jackie Shroff

A
tries to explore kinky sex
with a 57-year-old Neena
Gupta. They fumble spec-
10
tacularly (furry handcuffs
almost go on the foot) but 6
succeed in putting the spice
back into their relationship. 2
Thats Khujli, a 16-minute
short film.
When I first heard the script, I was
rolling-on-the-floor laughing, says
Shroff. I think it has an important mes-
sage to couples who have stopped being
romantic after their kids have grown.
That message has played out on about 11
1.1 lakh mobile and computer screens in
the three weeks since the films release. Its
7
one of many web shorts short films cre-
ated for and distributed on the internet
that are drawing Bollywood stars and, in 3
the process, changing the short-film indus-
try in India.
What are big names doing in such a
small format, working with young first-
timers like Khujli director Sonam Nair?
Ironically, many are finding creative
liberation. Most actors are doing short 12
films for free or for very little money, says
Kalki Koechlin. Im doing it for creative
satisfaction. Also, these films are available 8
online, free, at all times. That makes them
a good way to get through to people. 4
Big-screen veterans like Anupam Kher
and Naseeruddin Shah have shown up in
sweet romantic short films like Kheer and
Interior Caf Night.
Actors like Manoj Bajpayee, Konkona
Sen Sharma and Tisca Chopra are featur-
ing in dark short films like Taandav, Kriti
and Chutney. Last month, Koechlin made
a statement against online trolling in a
15-minute short titled Naked.
Director Neeraj Pandey, whose films
generally deal with politics and national-
9 KRITI (2016) dhika Apte
noj Bajpayee, Ra
ism, took to light laughs with his short Featuring: Ma
film, Ouch, starring Manoj Bajpayee as a 5 KHUJLI (2017)f, Neena Gupta Director: Shiris
h Kunder
h Kunder, this is
the story of Sap
an,
ning
cheating husband. Imtiaz Alis India
Featuring: Jac
kie Shrof thriller from Shiris psychiatrist and is now begin
A psychological es to a
Whats rea dl an
rson who go
Tomorrow, brief and evocative at just six
minutes long, has a sex worker discussing 1 KHEER (2017) Natasha Rastogi Director: Sona
m Nair
f) discovers a ha
ndcuff in his a mentally ill pe
ab ou t
ti (Neha Sharma).
his new love, Kri t from the usual Kunder fare.
am Kher, ed dad (Jackie Shrof fe (Neena Gupta) has been to open up
story is very dif
feren
stocks with a client. Featuring: Anup A midd le-ag
realises that his wi
riment in the whats not? This
ect or: Surya Balakrishnan er years sees sons room and es of Grey. They decide to expe
WHY BOLLYWOOD Dir t love in the silv g Fifty Sh ad ny res ults.
din fun
Day special abou a barrage of questions when r
CHUTNEY (2ra,01Ad6)il Hussain
rea he
This Valentines touching and rat
IS DROPPING IN
character, Nanu, fac e
lady friend. bedroom, with 10
For those whove followed Indias steady Anupam Khers king kheer for a ca Chop
nd kids discover him ma Featuring: Tis
TAANDAV (2yee
his little gra 016)
output of web shorts over the past decade, Kapur Das
the plusses are clear. The format allows 6 Director: Jyoti ca Chopra plays
a
noj Bajpa ke -up and glamour, Tis es slightly unhinged when
for out-of-the-box storylines and non- Featuring: Ma Sh orn of ma who go
HEAR NO EVIL (20
16) m Gh aziabad attractive
traditional storytelling. 2 Director: Devasish Makhija be, whose hone
sty homemaker fro and flirting repeatedly with an
stable named Tam ing she sees her hu
sb
For actors, going short has other advan- ple Kapadia plays a head con start to prevent him from giv
Featuring: Dim Manoj Bajpayee an d dance. Ser sly
iou , young neighbo
ur.
tages: The medium isnt dependent on come a burden to see Bajpayee
Pra na v Adarsh ing the good an
d and integrity be . Watch this film
weekend box-office results. Quick sched- Director: conscious, explor ily a go od life flicted mind.
tap into the sub Kapadias his fam into a con
interesting peek
This film seeks to all of us. When alcoholic Dimple
ELAYICHI (2ur015)
ules mean a shorter commitment. And
wins. This very though, its an 11
theres the chance to take on risqu roles t in
evil that lie laten ainst her, the darkness inside him rat Ka
and never-seen-before avatars. ag Featuring: Nim
abused son rebels ve you slightly shaken. OW (2016)
Short films give you an amazing oppor-
tunity to experiment and surprise yourself
sombre short wi
ll lea
7 INDIA TOMORR Director: Deva
sish Makhija
rat Kaur plays an
irritable
s inute short, Nim uses to leave her, even
Director: Imtia
z Ali en though its les In this brilliant 5-m d ref
and others, says actor Manoj Bajpayee, in this short, ev re n whose husban
who says his wife Neha urged him to try 3 NAKED (2017) , Ritabhari Chakraborty Imtiaz Ali pulls
out all the stops rts off explosive, and gets mo
tes lon g. The film sta
he gets a call that the but lonely woma
after death.
them out. Koechlin than six mi nu nt wh en
Director Shirish Kunder loves that the Featuring: Kalki . A sex wo rker is with a clie ifferent. Didnt you see this
mar as interesti ng , shes ind better.
Director: Ra kes h Ku al on the internet shed. Hes angry to give him tips on investing
films are out there, online, for anyone to that then goes vir stocks have cra ds
an intimate scene rnalist, the film explores online s, as she procee
watch or rewatch when they please.
When youre making a web short theres
An actor sho ots
a sex clip. As she
talks to a young
jou
and unlikely frie
ndships.
comi ng , sh e ask 12 AHALYA (201Ch5)atterjee, Radhika Apte
es about women, itra
no question of chalega ki nahin chalega
abuse, stereotyp Featuring: Soum
Ghosh
(will it work or not), he says.
His own short film, a psychological
8 OUCH (2016) oja Chopra
Director: Sujoy
ing of the myth
of Ahalya from
the
noj Bajpayee, Po A modern retell ist, his muse, a cop and some
Featuring: Ma
thriller titled Kriti, has had millions of
NIGHT (2016)Basu Prasad
INTERIOR CAF
art
Pand ey man
affair with a wo new Ramayana. An riguing story.
views since its release in June. Also, in Director: Neera
j
d man having an make for an int
feature films, you have to play safe. If
4
, Shernaz Patel,
Shweta ng a
ys Vinay, a marrie of divorcing his wife and starti c timing. missing persons
ruddin Shah j Bajpa ye e pla
you keep jumping genres, the produc- Featuring: Nasee Mano
o married. He dre
ams
it for Bajpayees
comi
Ad hiraj Bo se g-lost
Shah discovers lon As named Priya, als gets a rude awakening. Watch
ers will not trust you. But here you can Direct or: ner Naseeruddin saw each other. life with Priya,
but
experiment with genres. I had never abo ut sec on d chances. Caf ow since they last
This one is all Its been 30 years .
done a dark thriller before. By mak- el in his own caf. its a journey of love and nostalgia HOW IT WORKS
ing one I prove that I can. love Shernaz Pat po ignant past, Haraamkhor; web short Tubelight Ka
bac k on the ir
Tisca Chopra, who wrote, pro- he looks sage is more timely or complex Chand) cites the Vicks ad made by Masaan
Web shorts generally take very little time
to shoot two or three days, on average.
duced and acted in Chutney, says than Bollywood can handle particularly director Neeraj Ghaywan, featuring a

she did so out of majburi or despera-
tion. Roles in feature films are few and far
between and rarely exciting, she admits.
Supporting stories that other people
would not back inspired me.
WHAT BIG NAMES BRING
A 15-minute film featuring a well-known,
top-billed actor is undoubtedly a shot in
the arm for viewership. Fans of the star log
in to watch. Casual browsers tend to give
the film a shot. A big name lends credibil-
ity and recall value.
For filmmakers, its a win-win. Rela-
tively unknown director Devashish Makh-
ija found the spotlight on him when Manoj
Bajpayee starred in his short film, Taan-
dav, in February 2016.
Bajpayees boost helped enough for
Makhija to make his next short, Absent,
without any star two months later, and
still garner 2 million views.
Film critic Anupama Chopra points out
that when 10 or 12 million people are
watching one Tisca Chopra or Manoj Baj-
payee short, a significant number will also
click on other films made by unknown
directors. Every film featuring a celebrity
or getting directed by a popular director is
helping this industry grow, she says.
Short films give you an amazing
opportunity to experiment and
surprise yourself and others.
MANOJ BAJPAYEE, actor
BIG STARS, BIG CHANGES
Makhija believes web shorts have become
popular because they capitalise on view-
ers brief attention spans and because the
internet is not at the mercy of distributers.
The viewer and the creator are one click
away from each other, he says.
Kunder, on the other hand, finds that
making short films allows a director a
more varied audience a great resource
when youre making feature films as well.
I often go through the comments on my
short film and there are many people
watching who are not the typical web audi-
ence urban, savvy and English-speak-
ing. They also give honest feedback, he
says. The intellectual crowd is not the
only one watching shorts, people from all
social strata are viewing them.
Its a better platform when your mes-
with social issues or niche problems.
Its difficult to do a feature film on a
timely issue because by the time the movie
is released the subject is dated, says
Koechlin. A short film is a great way to
capture the moment.
MEDIUM AS THE MESSAGE
Many web shorts featuring movie stars are
published on the YouTube channels of
web-based entertainment platforms like
HumaraMovie, Terribly Tiny Talkies,
Pocket Films and Large Short Films.
These are platforms that have established
themselves, and having big names on the
roll only takes their brand further.
What it doesnt do is bring in big money.
The involvement of celebrities has defi-
nitely given web shorts a boost, says
Sameer Mody, founder and MD at Pocket
more Films. But the main avenue for monetisa-
onweb tion remains ads, which are low-yield.
Vinay Mishra from HumaraMovie
Take a peek at the agrees. Celebrities in short films are a
short films and hear double-edged sword, he says. Their
directly from their involvement can make it harder for new
makers, on filmmakers to break the clutter, be heard.
hindustantimes. It raises average cost of production too.
com/lifestyle One way out is branded shorts.
Director Shlok Sharma (feature film
transgender woman and her adopted
daughter. Branding was minimal in this
short, but its a slippery slope. If a short
films content is all about the brands mes-
sage, then artistic freedom gets hampered
and audiences could get put off too,
Sharma says.
Makhija has refused to do a branded
short and fears that they will start a race
for eyeballs and money that will muddy
the waters.
I have been part of some meetings
where I have seen rate cards from You-
Tube to buy views, he says. The rate fluc-
tuates depending on how much natural
traction a film is getting. Short films are
getting millions of views within weeks in
this manner, and no one is questioning it.
THE ROAD AHEAD
For now, Bollywoods stars and filmmak-
ers are coming to see the web short as a
great way to creatively expand. Kunder is
planning an action-drama next.
Koechlin is writing a poem called Noise,
about the cacophony of everyday life, on
which she hopes a short film can be made.
Shroff wants to direct short films now. I
may fall flat on my face, but I want to give it
a try, he says.
What takes longer, directors say, is
pre-production. You know you only have
the star for those couple of days, so
everything has to be set up, every detail in
place, says Devashish Makhija. This can
take a month.
Most Bollywood
stars currently take
little or no money to
feature in a web
short. As Kalki
Koechlin put it, they
do it for creative
satisfaction.
The cost of even an A-list web short is
therefore very low from as little as Rs
50,000 to about Rs 12 lakh.
The filmmakers could just leverage the
A-listers and promote it online, but they tie
up with platforms such as Pocket Films,
Terribly Tiny Talkies, Large Short Films,
HumaraMovie, Muvizz.com and Six Sigma
Films for that initial boost that comes from a
ready web audience. These platforms already
have between 25,000 and 500,000
subscribers, and that helps the film go viral.
In such cases, the platform gets to keep
most of the ad revenue they make from
the movie; the director gets a cut.
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