Alicia Moore
- Sep 25, 2020
- 2 min read

Dialog Short Film Review

★★★★ Stars

Starring: Various workers of Mumbai’s streets.

A simple black background with many multicoloured waves spread across the black. Details of the film’s awards and crew are shown in block white text filling the entirety of the image.

Dialog is an experimental short film by Souvik Chakraborty which offers musical communication through the chime and play of the streets of Mumbai. The film bonds together the organic sounds of the streets with upbeat melodies to present a flowing story centred around the labourers of the city.

The story that Dialog gifts to its viewers is one of strong meaning and purpose, showcasing the contrast between the hardships and excitement of daily life – a film that has the potential to resonate with the vast majority of the Earth’s population.

The colourful visuals paired with the natural sounds and beats makes this short film a festival experience for the soul. Although there are certain scenes of true hard labour, there are other scenes that showcase bright smiles and playful attitudes; such a powerful atmosphere to be hugged into. As an audience member you feel completely captivated by the energy of Mumbai and its quotidian activities, whether you are entranced by the visuals or music individually or the beautiful, overwhelming experience overall.

In regards to the technical making of the film, the editing (Nitin Burli) and producing (Souvik Chakraborty; music produced by Ankit Uppal) brings the short even more to life. The concept of Dialog itself is entirely human, something so vibrant and already filled with heart, but the stitching together of the scenes and sounds definitely enhances the greatness of the story aim. Each element of this short matches so perfectly, staying on the same track from start to finish. It is a relaxing ride as viewers are simply carried through the film atop personified sheet music.

Music is what fuels the dreams and aspirations of cities all around the world and Mumbai isn’t any different from the rest. Dialog is an intriguing and stimulating demonstration of this concept, a pure energy booster for its audience. I applaud Souvik Chakraborty for his motivational work on this short film, it is something that will sing in my mind for a long time going forward.