Focus South Asia 2 at MAMI Mumbai Film Festival features short films on privacy in marriage, queerness in India, illegal poaching and more!

Focus South Asia 2 brought together 5 varied stories from around the world that highlight different issues and how complex a human mind can be! Here’s our breakdown of each of them.

Focus South Asia 2 at the MAMI Mumbai Film Festival is an amalgamation of short films made by budding filmmakers. It starts with Udit Khurrana’s Tracker and ends with Nitin Baid’s Blind Spot. The rest of the short films span from various different languages and genres. Some bring out the dark side of technology and then there’s something as light hearted as a relationship of a couple with its pet. But nonetheless, there’s something to take away from each one of them!

Tracker review: Directed by Udit Khurrana, Tracker revolves around Shalini, a single mother who works as a bouncer at a nightclub. She is bound by financial restrictions and is the sole breadwinner for herself and her son, who is an athlete. One day, she helps Komal get a job at the nightclub as well because she comes from the same village as her. But the installation of a tracker at work gets things heated between them. Komal does not want to wear the tracker anymore and feels watched by everyone at work, and Shalini is in support of it. She is the kind to put her head down and follow every order so it doesn’t affect her paycheck at the end of the month. But when dug deeper into Komal’s life is when she found out why she was so against the tracker. Komal came to Mumbai because she was queer and was forcefully married to a man. Her brothers kept her caged and she somehow escaped that and found herself in the city that never sleeps. The film is intense as it portrays its protagonists as fierce, opinionated, and struggling to make ends meet. The story keeps you hooked because as you dig further, the tracker which is sold to them with the purpose of efficiency at work, actually has a much darker meaning behind it. 

In Flander Fields review: This documentary by Sachin, is about the millions of Indians who were asked to fight in the Flander Fields in Europe by the Britishers. The maker got access to archival letters, images, sounds and songs written by soldiers during that era. This is his attempt to keep his late ancestors’ memory alive through this documentary. Throughout the film, you see images of landscapes in Flanders which was war ridden during that time. There are times when the screen also goes completely blank with nothing but the voiceover of the poems written by the soldiers. The poems consist of how they were feeling at that point, the fear, missing family and being away from home. While this documentary highlights the sacrifice of the soldiers, it’s also not everyone’s cup of tea because of its somber nature.

Also Read: Pooja, Sir review: A strong premise that falls short of depth as it unfolds further

Claws and Teeth review: Heavily based on illegal poaching and power dynamics, Srujan Belli’s Claws and Teeth, starts with Anayya going hunting with his cousin Giri, and a mute plantation worker, Kaada. Things go haywire when they accidentally kill a tiger and then decide to smuggle its claws and skin. Even though they had a plan in motion to avoid the forest patrols, Kaada gets caught anyway and here’s where Anayya throws his hands up and denies working with him. But when Kaada’s son comes looking for revenge, the tables are turned and how! The story starts off strong but fails to keep it engaging till the end. Soon enough, you lose track of what’s going on and who is who as time restrictions lead to very little being revealed about the characters. Poaching in India is a sensitive subject that has recently gotten a lot of spotlight and while this one isn’t the best example of it, it definitely does serve as a conversation starter amongst people.

Comrade Poopy review: Set against the backdrop of the 2021 military coup in Myanmar, travel vlogger Naw Htike and her husband embark on a rather unexpected journey. What started as a trip, ended with her husband eventually making a life altering decision of joining the soldiers. Amidst all of this, the couple finds solace in their newly adopted cat, who they name Poopy. The documentary sheds light on how in a situation of unrest, humans find peace in their relationship with animals who indeed do not expect anything back from them. It was humorous to see how engrossed they were with Poopy’s life. They talk about him fondly as their own child and also think about a time when Poopy might not come back to them and find his way in the wild. In a swarm of war documentaries that constantly bring us depressing visuals, Comrade Poopy was a very unique take on finding the silver lining even in the darkest of times. 

Free as a Bird review: Aditya Khude’s Free as a Bird revolves around a lower middle class family of five, who lives in a one bedroom kitchen apartment. On their first anniversary, Raj and Priya go to the beach to celebrate and discuss plans for a bigger future ahead. But when they give into their temptations at a public place and fail to get out of it through bribery is when their anniversary turns into a nightmare for them. The film sheds light on the much needed conversation about the privacy newly married Indian couples deserve but aren’t fortunate enough to get it because of various reasons. Some stay with their family because of responsibilities, some stay because of their financial situation, which is why they resort to finding that solace in the outside world but of course that’s no place there for intimacy either. It is how most of the population in India lives their entire lives. But the climax is such that it still puts a smile on your face. Sometimes silence and good acting delivers the message way better than heavy dialogues would. And while Free as a Bird does not give us a definite solution to Raj and Priya’s problems, it still ties the story up beautifully!

Focus South Asia 2 was premiered at the MAMI Mumbai Film Festival this year!

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