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★★★
Directed by: #ShivamSharma
Written by: Shivam Sharma
Starring: #ShwetaHandoo, #VaibhavChaudhary, #RavindraPratap
I swear to god all films are about grief right?...Well maybe. I think Care Bears the movie touches on lighter subjects. Antardwand, translated into English means inner conflict, [and by the way I just knew that, I didn’t Google it, don’t judge me], and that is exactly what this short film embodies, for you see grief is simply a form of inner conflict, all the stages we go through during these times are simply the brain’s way of dealing with all the emotional stages that grief encompasses.
This short tells the tale of a young man who made a fatal mistake when driving himself and some and buddies home one night, hopefully they had been at some mental rager, listening to 90’s electro trance and blowing whistles while they danced. Or they were at a conference about owls or something. Either way, the friends all want to get home as quick as possible and that means our leading man decides to shave some time off their trip [and life spans] by driving the wrong way down a one way lane.
Now this stupid move obviously was going to spell disaster, and so without having to time travel to see the end of the movie, my prediction was correct; it leaves all his friends dead, and our leading man is left to deal with the guilt and grief of what his driving error has caused.
He tries spirituality to come to terms with himself, running away from the loved ones whose lives have been turned upside down due to the loss of their friends, but soon he learns he cannot outrun himself. This all manifests when he returns to visit a friend of the group who has clearly been deeply affected by the deaths.
Visually, Antardwand is experimental and engaging. Director, writer and editor Shivam Sharma employs a variety of skills and techniques to make his film stand out from the crowd, giving his own twist on the use of colours and angles, developing a style for himself, important to any budding director.
Audio is a little confusing, the film seems to have been dubbed for the dialogue, even though they are not speaking a different language from the one acted on screen, and he cuts sound, then re installs it to give scenes more of a dramatic effect. An interesting approach but does not particularly bring anything essential to the viewing experience.
Overall this short film explores grief in an interesting and dynamic manner, the storyline is strong with a good back bone and the acting is excellent throughout. Although, the dubbing can make it seem a little like we are watching a Spanish soap opera. However, you can still find yourself engaged and empathetic to the characters on screen, and overall it teaches us not to drive the wrong way down a one way road...But I think most of us knew not to do that already.
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